•H 


IFE 


OF 


CHARLESS.-PARNELL 

M.P. 


I 


[UBRARY  j 
U*N(ft!»rrY  OF 
CAUFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO        I 


1582 


THE  LIFE 


CHARLES  STEWART  PARNELL, 


AN  ACCOUNT  OF  HIS  ANCESTRY. 


BY  THOMAS  SHERLOCK. 


CONTAINING  MOST  INTERESTING  DETAILS  OF  C.  S.  PARNELL' 8 

EARLY  LIFE,  AND  OF   THE   PARNELL,    STEWART, 

AND  TTTDOR  FAMILIES. 


BOSTON:    , 

MTJEPHT  &  MCCARTHY,  PUBLISHERS, 

33  BKOMFIELD  STREET. 

PROVIDENCE,  R.I. :  269  WESTMINSTER  ST. 
1881. 


COPYRIGHT,  1881, 

BY  MURPHY  &  MCCARTHY. 


PBI.NTKD  uv  DUFFY,  CASHMAX  it  Co. 

603  Wmhington  St.,  Bo«ton. 


THE    LIFE 


OF 


CHARLES  STEWART  PARNELL,  M.P. 


BEFORE  sketching  the  career  of  Mr.  Parnell 
from  his  birth  to  the  present  hour,  we  deem  it 
proper  to  give  some  account  of  the  sources 
whence  he  sprang.  It  will  be  found  that  on  the 
maternal  as  well  as  on  the  paternal  side  he  had  a 
distinguished  ancestry  ;  the  former  being  as  noted 
for  honest,  hearty  hate  of  English  oppression  and 
love  of  domination  as  the  latter  for  sincere  and 
practical  Irish  patriotism. 

The  story  we  have  to  tell  must  naturally  pos- 
sess a  powerful  interest  for  the  Irish  people  ;  but 
even  if  Charles  Stewart  Paruell  were  not  so  en- 
deared to  them  as  he  is,  the  record  would  have 
intrinsically  a  strong  attraction  for  every  reader, 
for  it  deals  with  a  number  of  people  eminent  or 
illustrious  in  their  day,  some  of  whom  played 
leading  parts  on  the  world's  great  stage,  and 
some,  again,  about  whose  lives  there  is  all  the 
brilliancy  of  romance.  In  this  latter  category 
stands  the  Irish-American  Admiral  Stewart, 
whose  daring  and  successful  exploits  on  the 
ocean,  in  especial  against  the  British  in  the  war 
of  1812,  were  extraordinary,  and  whose  splendid 


4  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

career  will  be  traced  with  considerable  fulness  of 
detail  in  a  subsequent  paper.  Another  of  Mr. 
Parnell's  maternal  ancestors,  Judge  Tudor,  took 
a  stern  part  against  the  British  in  the  American 
war  of  independence  ;  so  that  we  have  the  inter- 
esting fact  that  the  gallant  member  for  Meath  has 
in  his  veins  the  blood  of  men  who  fought  against 
England  in  the  two  wars  between  that  country 
and  the  United  States.  We  may  add  here  that 
the  facts  we  shall  set  down  will  be  drawn  from 
authentic  sources,  many  of  which  are  not  gener- 
ally available. 

Beginning  with  the  Paruells,  we  must  say  at  the 
outset  that  they  were  originally  an  English  family, 
settled  for  many  centuries  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Congleton  in  Cheshire.  Whatever  English 
prejudices  concerning  Ireland  they  may  have  had 
at  first  they  soon  lost ;  the  English  sympathies 
they  must  have  brought  with  them  in  the  begin- 
ning grew  more  and  more  modified  as  generation 
after  generation  intermarried  in  Ireland,  until  at 
length  the  family  obtained  renown  for  its  Irish 
patriotism. 

Strange  it  is,  but  true,  that  many  of  our  most 
honored  patriots  of  the  past — the  men  whose 
memory  the  Irish  people  -will  ever  cherish  and 
reverence  —  sprang  originally  from  the  alien  race. 
They  saw  the  great  mass  of  the  people  ground 
into  powder,  and  at  the  same  time  cut  off  from 
their  natural  leaders  by  the  infamous  penal  laws ; 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  5 

and  with  generous  hearts  aflame  with  indignation 
they  sprang  to  the  front,  and  thought,  wrote, 
spoke,  fought,  and  died  in  the  effort  to  right  Ire- 
land's wrongs.  So  we  had  Tones  and  Eminets, 
Sheareses  and  Fitzgeralds,  leading  the  people, 
when  O'Briens  and  MacCarthys,  Kavanaghs  and 
O'Neills  were  hidden  away  in  enforced  obscurity. 
Times  have  changed  since  then,  and  numbers  of 
men  of  the  old  race  have  taken  and  are  taking 
the  part  that  befits  them  in  the  front  rank  of  our 
politic;1.!  life  ;  but  deep  down  in  Ireland's  grateful 
heart —rooted,  fixed,  immovable — is  the  passion- 
ate recollection  of  services  rendered  and  sacrifices 
made  in  her  cause  by  so  many  whose  ancestors  of 
a  few  generations  before  were  as  English  as  the 
towers  of  Windsor  Castle.  Never  again  will  it 
be  possible  to  create  disunion,  as  in  former  days, 
between  "the  old  Irish"  and  "the  new  Irish." 
The  unalterable  creed  of  our  people  is  the  cre^d 
so  well  preached  by  Thomas  Davis  :  — 

"Yet  start  not,  Irish-born  man  — 

If  you're  to  Ireland  true, 
We  heed  not  blood,  nor  creed,  nor  clan — 
We  have  no  curse  for  you. 

"  And  oh !  it  were  a  gallant  deed 

To  show  before  mankind 
How  every  race  and  every  creed 

Might  be  by  love  combined  — 
Might  be  combined,  yet  not  forget 

The  fountains  whence  they  rose 
As  filled  by  many  a  rivulet 

The  stately  Shannon  flows." 


6  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

The  founder  of  the  Parnell  family  in  Ireland 
was  one  Thomas,  who  came  over  from  Cheshire 
about  the  time  of  the  restoration  of  the  Stuart 
dynasty  to  the  British  throne  in  the  person  of 
Charles  the  Second. 

Thomas  Paruell  bought  an  estate  in  the  Queen's 
County,  and  so  came  by  it  in  an  honester  way 
than  three-fourths  of  the  ancestors  of  the  present 
landed  proprietors  of  Ireland.  He  throve  on  this 
estate ;  his  affairs  prospered ;  and  he  gave  an 
excellent  education  to  his  two  sons,  John  and 
Thomas,  whom  he  respectively  devoted  to  law  and 
the  Church. 

John,  the  younger,  who  finally  came  into  the 
family  estates,  both  in  Ireland  and  England,  was 
a  man  of  ability  and  prominence  in  his  day.  He 
attained  a  seat  in  the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench,  and 
died,  leaving  behind  him  accumulated  property. 

The  parson  was  also  a  man  of  much  ability,  and 
enjoyed,  not  only  in  his  own  day,  but  even  up  to 
a  generation  ago,  considerable  renown  as  a  poet. 
He  was  also  a  scholar  and  a  wit.  He  was  born 
in  Dublin  in  1669,  and  educated  at  Trinity  Col- 
lege, where  he  took  his  degree  of  M.  A.  in  1700. 
Three  years  afterwards  he  was  ordained  ;  and  in 
1705  he  received  the  appointment  of  Archdeacon 
of  Clogher.  But  his  predilections  leaned  more 
towards  literary  work  than  to  ministerial  duties, 
and  he  preferred  to  mingle  with  Swift  and  Addi- 
sou,  Steele,  Congreve,  and  Pope,  in  the  warm 


0.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  7 

London  coffee-houses,  than  to  mumble  through 
written-out  homilies  in  the  cold  church  of  Clogher. 
Some  excuse  may  be  found  for  him,  however ;  for, 
although  he  was  probably  never  reduced  to  the 
extremity  of  his  friend  Dean  Swift  at  Laracor, 
when,  unable  truthfully  to  begin  his  sermon  with 
the  formal  "Dearly  beloved  brethren,"  he  com- 
menced his  address  to  his  sole  listener,  the  parish 
clerk,  with  the  famous  "  Dearly  beloved  Roger," 
Parson  Parnell's  congregation  must  of  necessity 
have  been  scanty.  So  in  London  he  spent  much 
of  his  time,  writing  poems  of  a  highly  moral  ten- 
dency, as  befitted  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  occa- 
sionally trying  his  hand  at  prose,  but  more  often 
revelling  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  brilliant  conver- 
sation of  the  wits  with  whom  he  mixed. 

His  wife,  a  lady  celebrated  both  for  her  beauty 
and  her  amiability,  died  after  a  union  with  him  of 
but  seven  years.  He  never  recovered  from  the 
blow.  Thenceforth,  to  the  end  of  his  own  life,  he 
was  subject  to  fits  of  despondency,  and  generally 
shunned  the  gay  society  in  which  formerly  he  had 
taken  such  keen  delight.  Dean  Swift,  obtained 
for  him  the  living  of  Fiuglas,  near  Dublin,  and  so 
added  another  to  the  literary  attractions  and  mem- 
ories which,  through  Steele,  Addison,  Tickell, 
Sheridan,  Delany,  and  Swift  himself,  surround 
the  neighborhood  of  the  old  hamlet  of  Glasnevin. 

Dr.  Thomas  Parnell  died  at  a  comparatively 
early  age,  on  his  way  from  London  to  Ireland,  in 


8  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

the  ancient  city  of  Chester,  in  1717.  His  remains 
were  interred  in  one  of  the  churches  of  the  place 
of  his  death.  He  was  only  in  his  thirty-eighth 
year,  and  had  survived  his  wife  but  for  half  a  de- 
cade. He  had  issue ;  but  his  branch  of  the  Par- 
nell  family  soon  died  out.  Among  his  prose 
works  was  the  "Life  of  Homer"  which  was  pre- 
fixed to  the  poet  Pope's  translation  of  the  Iliad. 
Pope  held  Parnell  in  high  honor,  and  after  his 
death  edited  an  edition  of  his  poems.  Other 
poets  joined  in  applauding  him.  Oliver  Gold- 
smith wrote  of  him  that  "his  language  is  the  lan- 
guage of  life,  conveying  the  warmest  thoughts  in 
the  simplest  expressions."  .The  Scotch  poet, 
Campbell,  still  more  laudatory,  says  of  Parnell's 
poetry  that "  its  compass  is  not  extensive,  but  its 
tone  is  peculiarly  delightful,  from  the  graceful  and 
reserved  sensibility  that  accompanied  his  polished 
phraseology."  And  he  adds  :  "The  studied  hap- 
piness of  his  diction  does  not  spoil  its  simplicit}^. 
His  poetry  is  like  a  flower  that  has  been  trained 
and  planted  by  the  skill  of  the  gardener,  but 
which  preserves,  in  its  cultured  state,  the  natural 
fragrance  of  its  milder  air."  Even  Dr.  Johnson 
joined  in  the  chorus  of  praise,  saying  of  Parnell 
that  "  he  is  sprightly  without  effort,  and  always 
delights,  though  he  never  ravishes  ;  "  and  further 
observes  concerning  some  of  his  poems  :  "  It  is 
impossible  to  say  whether  they  are  the  produc- 
tions of  nature  so  excellent  as  not  to  want  the 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  9 

help  of  art,  or  of  art  so  refined  as  to  resemble 
nature."  With  this  brief  notice  we  must  be  con- 
tent to  part  from  the  one  bard  of  the  Parnell 
family. 

John,  the  judge,  was  more  fortunate  with  re- 
gard to  posterity  than  his  brother.  He  left  behind 
him  a  son  —  another  John  —  from  whom  descended 
a- line  of  illustrious  men.  First  there  was  this  lat- 
ter John,  who  sat  in  the  Irish  House  of  Commons 
as  member  for  Maryborough  for  several  successive 
Parliaments.  He  is  described  as  "a  man  of  great 
integrity  and  most  amiable  character."  The  "  great 
integrity  "  was  undoubtedly  hereditary  in  the  fam- 
ily, as  we  shall  see ;  the  "  amiability "  has  de- 
scended too,  with  this  difference — that  it  is  not 
unvarying  or  unalterable,  but  is  at  times  con- 
sidered very  much  out  of  place,  more  especially 
in  the  British  House  ojf  Commons. 

John,  the  judge,  had  settled  at  Rathleague  in 
Queen's  County ;  and,  as  previously  intimated, 
had  left  his  son  a  man  of  good  estate.  This 
latter,  the  member  for  Maryborough,  married  in 
1744  into  a  family  which,  if  names  are  to  be  re- 
lied on,  must  have  been  of  tolerably  pure  Gaelic 
blood.  His  spouse  was  Anne  Ward,  daughter 
of  Michael  Ward,  of  Castle  Ward,  county  Down. 
Those  Wards  were  by  no  means  ashamed  of  their 
Irish  name,  as  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  they  be- 
stowed it  on  their  residence.  The  Wards  of  Cas- 
tle Ward  were  people  of  consequence  in  their 


10  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

day ;  a  brother  of  Mrs.  Anne  Parnell  having  been 
created  Lord  Bangor.  Her  husband,  too,  —  the 
"  man  of  great  integrity  "  —  must  have  been  a  man 
of  ability  also,  and  have  "done  the  State  some 
service,"  for  we  find  that  he  was  created  a  baronet 
in  the  year  1766,  and  was  thenceforth  entitled  to 
be  addressed  as  "  Sir  John." 

Sir  John  had  a  son,  also  christened  John,  con- 
cerning whom  more  must  be  said  than  of  his 
father.  While  the  fkther  sat  as  member  for  Mary- 
borough, the  son  entered  the  House  of  Commons 
iii  Collegegreen  as  member  for  Bangor.  Both, 
in  fact,  were  striving  together  to  serve  their 
country  in  a  public  capacity  —  and  by  this  time 
the  Parnells  had  learned  to  think  no  country  in 
the  world  as  theirs  but  Ireland. 

The  son  was  a  remarkable  man.  He  had  a 
genuine  talent  for  business  ;  and  as  the  circum- 
stances of  the  family  forbade  its  exercise  in  the 
paths  of  commerce,  he  gave  the  full  benefit  of  it 
to  his  land.  In  public  speaking  he  never  at- 
tempted to  be  rhetorical ;  at  a  time  when  Irish 
Parliamentary  orators  sought  after  brilliant  pe- 
riods and  pointed  epigrams  and  flashing  images, 
this  John  Paruell,  of  whom  we  now  speak,  was 
content  to  say  out  his  thoughts  plainly,  without 
straining  after  ornament.  Wholly  unaffected  in 
feeling,  he  was  satisfied  with  "correct  language 
and  a  delivery  close  to  his  subject ; "  and  indeed 
seems  to  have  concerned  himself  more  with  the 


C.    S.    PAKNELL,    M.  P.  11 

matter  than  the  manner  of  his  speeches  —  to  have 
been  more  solicitous  to  have  something  weighty 
to  say  than  as  to  the  way  in  which  he  said  it.  He 
is  described  as  being  a  man  of  "  blunt  honesty, 
a  strong  discriminating  mind,  and  good  talents." 

His  father  —  the  ""man  of  great  integrity"  — 
died  in  the  year  of  the  declaration  of  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Irish  Parliament,  1782,  and  left 
him  in  turn  "  Sir  John."  This  second  Sir  John 
was  colonel  of  a  regiment  of  the  famous  Volun- 
teers of  '82,  and  at  a  very  early  stage  of  the  move- 
ment for  independence  both  himself  and  his  corps 
adopted  it  zealously  and  strenuously.  He  clung 
to  it  without  swerving  till  his  last  breath,  though 
he  had  the  misfortune  to  live  to  see  the  unforgiv- 
able crime  of  the  Union  accomplished.  After  the 
death  of  his  father  he  became  member  for  Queen's 
County,  for  which  he  was  elected  again  and  again 
until  the  extinction  of  the  native  Parliament  in 
which  he  had  labored  so  long  and  so  honestly. 

From  an  early  period  of  his  career  he  was 
selected  for  the  holding  of  office.  In  1780,  while 
yet  plain  John  Parnell,  he  was  appointed  a  com- 
missioner of  the  revenue  ;  he  was  made  a  privy 
councillor  in  1786  ;  and  in  1787,  when  the  Eight 
Honorable  John  Foster  —  another  firm  opponent 
of  the  Union  —  vacated  the  post  of  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer  to  take  up  that  of  Speaker  of  the 
Irish  House  of  Commons,  Sir  John  Parnell  suc- 
ceeded him  in  the  Chancellorship.  In  this  posi- 


12  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

tion  he  took  an  honest,  independent  part  as  a 
member  of  the  Ministry,  and  devoted  himself  with 
zeal  to  the  furthering  of  practical  measures  to  for- 
ward the  prosperity  of  his  native  land.  He 
lightened  the  burden  of  taxation  on  the  people ; 
he  limited  the  pension  list  so  that  the  Government 
were  hampered  in  buying  disgraceful  political  ser- 
vice at  the  expense  of  the  country ;  he  secured  a 
favorable  commercial  treaty  with  France  to  the 
great  advantage  of  Irish  trade  ;  and  he  promoted 
the  canal  system  at  home  for  the  better  develop- 
ment of  our  industrial  resources  —  very  creditable 
work  indeed  for  the  eleven  years  during  which  he 
held  the  seals  of  the  Chancellorship. 

He  seems  to  have  been  so  immersed  in  his  use- 
ful projects  as  not  to  have  given  requisite  care  to 
the  consideration  of  the  larger  and  wider  political 
principles  which  were  then  being  enunciated  in 
Ireland.  Fatal  fault !  Reform  would  have  saved 
our  Parliament,  yet  Sir  John  Paruell  continued  to 
hold  his  position  in  the  Ministry  that  refused  He- 
form,  he  dreaming,  apparently,  that  inattention  to 
the  question  could  never  surely  pave  the  way  for 
the  overthrow  of  the  native  legislature  he  so  high- 
.ly  prized.  He  was  destined  to  a  rude  awakening. 

After  the  collapse  of  '98,  when  the  country  lay 
bleeding,  bound,  and  helpless  at  the  feet  of  wicked, 
rampant,  and  unscrupulous  power,  Sir  John  Par- 
nell  was  sent  for,  and  the  project  of  the  Union 
broached  to  him.  His  advice,  forsooth,  on  the 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  13 

> 

question  was  first  requested.  He  gave  it  prompt- 
ly —  gave  it  firmly  —  gave  it  inflexibly.  It  would 
be  a  ruinous  measure  for  Ireland. 

The  villain  Castlereagh  was  much  concerned  at 
Sir  John's  attitude.  His  personal  influence  in  the 
House  of  Commons  was  great,  on. account  of  his 
admitted  honesty,  judgment,  and  talents.  His 
secession  from  the  Ministry  would  of  necessity 
weaken  it.  Besides,  he  represented  at  least  two 
unpurchasable  votes ;  for,  having  married  early 
in  life  a  daughter  of  the  Right  Hon.  Arthur  Brooke, 
he  had  now  a  son,  Henry,  standing  beside  him  on 
the  floor  of  the  House  as  member  for  Maryborough, 
and  possessed  of  as  much  integrity  and  firmness 
of  purpose  as  any  of  his  predecessors.  Castle- 
reagh was  at  length  reduced  to  his  last  shift  with 
Sir  John  Parnell,  who  was  left  the  option  of  "re- 
vising his  opinions"  with  regard  to  the  destruction 
of  the  Irish  Parliament,  or  relinquishing  his  post 
with  its  honors  and  emoluments,  and  the  certain 
prospect  of  elevation  to  the  peerage  —  the  post, 
too,  in  which  he  had  already  been  enabled  to  do 
so  much  for  the  good  of  his  fellow-countrymen. 

It  was  not  in  the  nature  of  Sir  John  Parnell  to 
hesitate  before  such  a  choice.  He  honestly  believed 
a  free  legislature  to  be  necessary  for  Ireland's  weal, 
so  he  abandoned  his  office,  turned  his  back  on  its 
advantages,  crossed  the  floor  of  the  House,  and 
flung  himself  into  the  ranks  of  the  patriotic  Oppo- 


14  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

sition,  where  in  the  debates  on  the  Union  question 
he  did  effective  service. 

Sir  John  Parnell's  constituents  of  Queen's 
County  presented  him  with  an  address  approving 
of  his  conduct.  The  address  was  dated  the  18th 
January,  1799,  and  was  signed  on  behalf  of  the 
electors  by  the  high  sheriff  of  the  county.  In  it 
they  remarked  that  although  he  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Ministry  they  had  such  unbounded  con- 
fidence in  his  honor  that  they  did  not  hesitate  to 
elect  him  three  times  in  succession,  and  that  now 
he  had  proved  to  them  that  that  confidence  was 
justified.  In  his  reply  he  promised  to  continue 
his  opposition  to  the  Union  project  "  as  a  measure 
which  seems  to  me  more  likely  to  endanger  than 
to  give  strength  to  the  State"  —  the  State  that 
was  in  his  thoughts  being  Ireland  of  course.  He 
declined  to  allow  any  weight  to  the  arguments  in 
favor  of  the  Union  frequently  advanced  from  the 
legislative  union  between  Scotland  and  England. 
He  admitted  no  analogy  between  the  cases.  "  Scot- 
land," he  said,  "  in  respect  to  its  commerce,  was 
sure  of  advantages,  and  did  not  then  risk  an  ex^ 
tensive  trade  such  as  Ireland  possesses." 

The  merchants  and  traders  of  Dublin  city  — 
most  of  them  Orangemen,  be  it  remembered  — 
were  delighted  with  his  spirited  behavior ;  and 
they  too  approached  him  with  a  highly  compli- 
mentary address,  in  which  they  alluded  to  his  ex- 
pulsion from  the  Ministiy.  In  reply  to  them  he 


C.    S.   PARNELL,  M.  P.  15 

said  with  quiet  dignity :  "  As  to  my  personal 
situation  I  acquiesce  under  it  without  any  adverse 
feeling.  The  regards  of  the  most  respectable  and 
the  most  honorable  members  of  the  community  are 
a  better  foundation  of  honest  pride  than  rank  and 
emolument." 

The  Maryborough  yeomanry,  of  which  he  was 
captain,  "added  their  tribute  of  respect  and  con- 
gratulation," and  presented  him  with  a  sword  of 
honor,  "as  a  testimony,"  they  said,  "of  your  dig- 
nified and  independent  principles  and  conduct." 
He  told  them  in  return  that  he  would  be  proud  to 
wear  that  sword  in  defence  of  their  king,  "  and  of 
his  kingdom  of  Ireland." 

To  the  last  Sir  John  Parnell  and  his  son  Henry 
actively  opposed  the  Union,  both  in  the  House  of 
Commons  and  elsewhere.  Others  who  began  on 
their  side  of  the  question  grew  weak  and  accepted 
bribes,  either  in  place,  pension  or  title,  until  the 
farce  of  carrying  the  odious  measure  by  a  pur- 
chased majority  was  gone  through  in  1800.  But, 
whoever  might  waver,  the  two  Parnells  would  not. 
They  stood  firm  and  unbending  to  the  end,  un- 
tempted  by  the  golden  showers  rained  from  the 
Treasury,  unallured  by  the  coronet  that  would 
gladly  have  been  offered  as  the  wages  of  degra- 
dation—  indeed  as  a  cheap  recompense  for  their 
betrayal  of  their  country. 

Sir  Jonah  Barrington  contributes  the  following 
testimony  to  Sir  John  Parnell's  character,  and  it 


16  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P 

is  all  the  higher  when  we  remember  how  at  that 
period  politicians  of  all  shades,  both  in  England 
and  Ireland,  strove  to  divert  as  much  as  possible 
of  the  public  revenue  into  the  pockets  of  them- 
selves or  their  relations:  "Though  many  years 
in  possession  of  high  office  and  extensive  patron- 
age, he  showed  a  disinterestedness  almost  un- 
paralleled ;  and  the  name  of  a  relative  or  a 
dependent  of  his  own  scarcely  in  a  single  instance 
increased  the  place  or  the  pension  lists  of  Ireland." 
In  G rattan's  Life  his  character  is  described  thus  : 
"An  honest,  straightforward,  independent  man, 
possessed  of  considerable  ability  and  much  public 
spirit ;  .  .  .  amiable  in  private,  mild  in  dispo- 
sition, but  firm  in  mind  and  purpose." 

After  the  Union  Sir  John  was  sent  to  the  Lon- 
don House  of  Commons  by  his  old  constituency, 
the  electors  of  the  Queen's  County.  But  he  did 
not  long  survive  his  country's  Parliament.  Death 
seized  him,  without  much  warning,  on  the  5th  De- 
cember, 1801,  in  London.  He  was  succeeded  in 
the  title  and  estates  by  his  son,  Henry,  whose 
career  was  also  a-  very  distinguished  one,  and 
highly  honoring  to  himself.  He  entered  the 
British  Parliament  as  member  for  the  Queen's 
County  in  1802,  and  while  there  was  always  the 
staunch  friend  of  the  oppressed  Catholics. 

AH  the  members  returned  to  the  London  Par- 
liament from  Ireland  —  even  those  who  had  been 
most  devoted  to  their  native  legislature,  and  who 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  17 

had  striven  hardest  against  its  extinction — ac- 
cepted in  quiet  their  new  position.  Grattan  him- 
self, though  he  advised  his  countrymen  to  "keep 
knocking  at  the  Union  "  in  the  hope  of  demolish- 
ing it,  never  dreamt  that  the  place  where  the 
hardest  knocks  of  all  could  be  given  was  in  the 
London  Parliament  itself.  It  never  occurred  to 
him  that  by  using  his  great  powers  towards  the 
hampering  of  every  proceeding  of  that  institution 
he  could  offer  to  the  British  only  a  choice  between 
the  disintegration  of  their  own  legislature,  or  the 
restoration  of  the  Irish  one.  Yet  nothing  seems 
more  likely  than  that  if  the  Irish  representation 
as  a  whole  had  behaved,  from  the  very  beginning 
in  1801,  as  a  foreign  substance  introduced  into  the 
imperial  body,  rankling  in  it  more  and  more  as 
time  went  on,  straitening  it  in  its  every  action, 
making  it  feel  sore  at  every  movement,  the  British 
would  very  soon  have  been  heartily  sick  of  the 
Union,  and  been  glad  to  submit  to  the  one  oper- 
ation that  alone  would  relieve  them  from  the 
inflaming  foreign  substance.  Of  course,  in  fol- 
lowing this  line,  the  Irish  members,  to  be  success- 
ful, should  have  acted  with  prudence  as  well  as 
firmness,  and,  while  availing  themselves  of  every 
Parliamentary  privilege,  should  have  been  careful 
to  keep  well  within  Parliamentary  rules ;  but 
want  either  of  tact  or  of  courage  was  not  charac- 
teristic of  the  Irish  gentlemen  of  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century,  unless  the  records  of  the 


18  C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P. 

time  misrepresent  them  much.  Indeed,  it  re- 
quired no  greater  degree  of  those  qualities  to  be 
generally  antagonistic  and  troublesome  than  it  did 
to  face,  on  numerous  special  occasions,  the  angry 
demon  of  English  bigotry  on  the  Catholic  ques- 
tion ;  yet  several  Irish  members  did  so  face  it, 
and  among  them  one  of  the  foremost  was  Sir 
Henry  Parnell. 

Sir  Henry  ParneU's  instincts  and  convictions 
were  all  towards  liberal  ideas.  From  a  very  early 
period  of  his  career  he  espoused  the  cause  of  his 
downtrodden  Catholic  countrymen  with  the  ardor 
and  honesty  of  his  family.  His  pen  as  well  as 
his  voice  he  laboriously  exerted  in  their  behalf. 
It  is  hardly  possible  to  exaggerate  the  beneficial 
effect  on  the  cause  of  Emancipation,  produced  by 
his  "  History  of  the  Penal  Laws  "  and  his  "  His- 
torical Apology  for  the  Irish  Catholics."  A  Prot- 
estant himself,  and  one  whose  honor  and  disin- 
terestedness were  beyond  question  by  even  the 
most  malignant  bigot,  his  powerful  arrays  of  facts 
supporting  his  strong  arguments  must  have  con- 
verted many  a  sturdy  but  honest  foe  into  a  friend 
of  the  Catholic  claims.  In  the  British  House  of 
Commons  also,  he  took  every  opportunity  of 
speaking  on  behalf  of  his  Catholic  countrymen's 
rights.  He  was  the  constant  ally  of  Grattan  and 
Plunket  in  the  many  debates  raised  from  time  to 
time  on  the  Catholic  question  in  that  House. 
Every  one  knows  that  it  was  the  mass  of  the  Irish 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  19 

people  under  O'Counell,  who  in  the  end  overthrew 
the  stronghold  of  British  bigotry ;  yet  sight 
should  not  be  lost  of  the  fact  that  the  three  Irish 
Protestants  just  named,  in  conjunction  with  some 
others  and  some  liberal-minded  English  ones, 
made  the  first  sharp  assaults,  took  the  formidable 
outworks,  and  undermined  the  massive  walls. 
Though  the  details  of  their  efforts  be  not  now 
generally  remembered — though,  in  fact,  there  be 
tens  of  thousands  in  Ireland  who  have  never  even 
heard  of  their  endeavors — one  remarkable  conse- 
quence of  those  and  like  generous  efforts  unalter- 
ably remains.  There  is  no  office  of  trust  or 
honor  in  the  gift  of  Irish  Catholics  to  which  an 
Irish  Protestant  may  not  aspire,  in  the  full  con- 
fidence that  it  will  be  given  to  him  as  freely  as  if 
he  worshipped  in  the  same  temple  as  they,  pro- 
vided only  that  he  show  himself  a  true  Irishman. 
One  particular  hardship  pertaining  to  the  lot 
of  Irish  Catholics  excited  Sir  Henry  Parnell's 
deepest  pity  for  the  victims,  and  his  warmest  in- 
dignation against  the  intolerable  oppression  — 
the  tithe  system.  Pressed  to  the  very  earth  by 
the  exactions  of  his  landlord — often  reduced, 
after  all  his  unending  toil  from  year's  end  to 
year's  end,  to  subsist  on  a  scanty  portion  of  the 
humblest  fare,  to  live  in  a  hovel  not  a  whit  better 
than  a  pigsty,  and  to  clothe  himself  in  a  raiment 
of  tatters  such  as  the  ragman  would  not  touch 
with  his  crook,  much  less  put  into  his  bag — the 


20  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

peasant  had  still  to  support  in  idleness  and  lux- 
ury the  parson  whose  ministrations  he  utterly 
rejected,  and  whose  teachings  he  declined  with- 
out thanks.  The  parson,  on  his  part,  sought  his 
"tithes"  much  as  a  wolf  seeks  its  prey,  and  com- 
monly seemed  to  take  a  fiendish  pleasure  in  add- 
ing every  circumstance  of  aggravation  to  the 
collection  of  the  hateful  impost.  Sir  Henry  Par- 
Hell  beheld  all  this,  and  his  heart  was  wrung  with 
compassion,  his  soul  was  moved  with  righteous 
wrath.  With  pains  and  labor  he  gathered  revolt- 
ing instances  of  the  shocking  oppressiveness  of 
the  tithe  exaction,  and  brought  them  before  the 
British  House  of  Commons.  He  exposed  the 
rapacity  of  numerous  clergymen  of  the  estab- 
lished Church  in  regard  to  tithes ;  held  up  to 
public  execration  the  diabolical  ingenuity  which, 
by  the  addition  of  legal  costs,  ran  up  the  sum  for 
which  the  peasant  was  liable  to  five  or  six  times 
its  original  amount ;  he  showed  the  monstrosity 
of  having  the  tithe-claimers  themselves  the  judges 
of  their  own  cases  against  the  peasantry  in  "  the 
bishop's  court ; "  and  denounced  the  glaring 
wickedness  of  parsons  like  the  one  who  dis- 
trained five  sheep  from  a  farmer  for  a  tithe  of 
five  shillings,  and  bought  them  in  himself  after- 
wards, under  the  distress,  for  a  shilling  apiece. 
As  with  Emancipation,  so  with  tithes — it  was 
the  Irish  people  themselves  who  overturned  the 
abominable  system  at  last ;  but  the  task  was  reu- 


0.    S.    PAENELL,    M.  P.  21 

dered  easier  for  them  by  Sir  Henry  Parnell ;  his 
battering  rams  had  shaken  the  citadel  of  iniquity 
to  its  foundations,  and  but  that  it  was  buttressed 
by  the  combined  aristocratic  and  ecclesiastic 
power  of  England  it  must  have  fallen  before  their 
shocks. 

Both  before  and  after  Emancipation  Sir  Henry 
was  in  general  politics  what  used  to  be  called  a 
Radical.  Taught,  probably,  by  his  experience  of 
the  Irish  Parliament,  he  was  devoted  to  reform 
of  the  English  one.  He  lived  to  become  a  peer 
of  Great  Britain ;  but  all  his  life  he  was  heai<t 
and  soul  a  democrat.  He  was  one  of  the  men 
who  are  said  to  be  in  advance  of  their  time,  but 
whose  life-labors  are  nevertheless  fruitful  for 
those  who  come  after  them.  Among  the  projects 
he  advocated  in  the  British  House  of  Commons 
were  the  abolition  of  all  laws  restricting  either 
labor  or  capital,  including  the  abolition  of  the 
corn  laws  which  made  the  food  of  the  people 
dear ;  the  removal  of  all  unequal  taxes,  and  the 
substitution  of  a  property  tax ;  the  shortening  of 
the  term  for  which  members  of  Parliament  are 
elected,  so  that  constituencies  could  sooner  deal 
with  those  who  misrepresent  them  ;  an  extension 
of  the  franchise ;  the  introduction  of  the  ballot 
for  the  protection  of  voters  from  intimidation ; 
and  the  abolition  of  flogging  in  the  army  and 
navy,  and  of  impressment  in  the  latter.  Most  of 
these  projects  have  since  been  converted  into  the 


22  C.    S.   PARNELL,   M.  P. 

law  of  the  British  empire ;  and  so  lately  as  1879 
Mr.  C.  S.  Parnell  carried  into  effect  one  of  the 
leading  ideas  of  his  far-seeing  and  reforming  rel- 
ative by  virtually1 "  killing  the  'cat.'" 

The  English  people,  as  well  as  the  Irish,  have 
much  for  which  to  thank  Mr.  C.  S.  Parnell ;  and 
the  case  is  exactly  like  with  Sir  Henry.  He  it 
was  who  opened  for  them  the  way  to  a  reform 
of  their  Parliament.  William  the  Fourth  came 
to  the  British  throne  in  the  August  of  1830. 
His  Prime  Minister  was  the  Duke  of  Wellington  ; 
his  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  Sir  Robert  Peel. 
On  the  12th  of  November  Sir  Henry  Parnell 
moved  a  resolution — "That  a  select  committee 
shall  be  appointed  to  take  into  consideration  the 
estimates  and  amounts  proposed  by  command  of 
his  Majesty  regarding  the  Civil  List."  As  a 
lively  English  writer  says :  "  The  Civil  List  is  a 
list  of  all  the  revenues  of  the  Crown — the  income 
of  the  king  in  fact.  And  here  scarcely  had  his 
Majesty  got  warm  in  his  seat  when  this  audacious 
man  proposed  to  overhaul  it.  His  Majesty  was 
wrathful,  and  ordered  his  Ministers  to  oppose 
this  daring  proposal  with  all  their  might.  And 
this,  we  may  be  sure,  was  done.  But,  lo  !  when 
the  division  came  off,  Sir  Henry  found  that  he 
had  beaten  the  Government  by  a  majority  of 
twenty-nine.  That  was  a  very  great  thing  to  do. 
But  mark  what  came  of  it.  The  Government 
resigned;  the  reign  of  Toryism — that  'anarchy 


C.    S.    PABNELL,   M.  P.  23 

old' — was  overthrown  at  last;  and  the  way  was 
opened  for  Earl  Grey  and  Reform.  This  opened 
a  new  era."  It  opened  a  new  era  for  Sir  Henry 
Parnell  himself  also  ;  for  he  was  made  Secretary 
for  War  in  Lord  Grey's  Government,  and  Pay- 
master-General of  the  Forces  in  Lord  Mel- 
burne's.  After  thirty-nine  years  of  membership 
in  the  House  of  Commons  he  was  transferred  to 
the  Lords  under  the  style  and  title  of  Baron  Con- 
gleton.  Mental  overwork  and  illness  brought  on 
delirium,  in  1842 ;  and  on  the  eighth  of  June  in 
that  year,  at  the  age  of  sixty-five,  while  insanity 
obscured  his  reason,  he  unfortunately  killed  him- 
self. He  left  a  son,  the  second  Baron  Congleton, 
who  has  at  least  the  merit  of  voting  in  favor  of 
liberal  measures. 

Sir  Henry,  like  his  father,  had  no  pretensions 
to  oratorical  power;  but  he  was  admittedly  an 
excellent  debater.  He  is  described  towards  the 
close  of  his  career  as  "of  the  middle  size,  rather 
inclining  to  stoutness  ;  his  complexion  is  fair ;  his 
features  are  regular,  with  a  mild  expression  about 
them  ;  and  his  hair  is  pure  white." 

Besides  Sir  Henry,  Sir  John  Parnell  left  a  son, 
William,  who  was  content  to  live  the  life  of  a 
plain  country  gentleman,  possessed  of  ample  for- 
tune. He  had  a  son,  named,  after  his  distinguished 
grandfather  and  uncle,  John  Henry ;  and  of  this 
John  Henry  Paruell  Mr.  Charles  Stewart  Par- 
nell, M.P.,  is  the  fourth  son. 


24  C.    8.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

Though  this  branch  of  the  Parnell  family  was 
the  younger,  it  was  well  endowed  with  worldly 
means,  and  had  near  aristocratic  connections. 
Neither  William  nor  John  Henry  was  distinguished 
in  the  political  world  ;  but  tradition  says  that  as 
landlords  their  relations  with  their  tenantry  were 
of  the  most  satisfactory  kind.  They  would  seem, 
too,  to  have  cherished  some  pride  in  connection 
with  the  era  of  Irish  independence,  to  judge  from 
the  care  with  which  certain  flags  of  the  Volunteers 
of  '82  have  been  handed  down — flags  which  at 
present  grace  C.  S.  Parnell's  mansion  of  Avon- 
dale,  near  Eathdrum,  county  Wicklow. 
>  One  of  these  most  interesting  relics  of  a  glori- 
ous episode  in  Irish  history  is  a  cavalry  ensign, 
of  thick  silk,  richly  ornamented  on  both  sides. 
In  shape  it  is  of  the  kind  known  as  a  burgee  — 
that  is,  an  oblong  flag  with  a  trangular  piece  taken 
from  its  outer  edge.  On  one  side  the  color  of  the 
ensign  is  red,  and  on  the  other  yellow.  Its  di- 
mensions are  three  feet  by  two.  In  a  centre- 
piece on  one  side  appears  a  dog,  with,  divided 
above  and  below  it,  the  inscription,  "Velox  et 
acer  —  et  tidelis  amicis,"  which  means,  "Swift 
and  sharp  —  and  faithful  to  friends."  Divided 
above  and  below  the  border  of  the  centre-piece  is 
the  further  inscription,  "Independent  Wicklow 
—  Fors.  Lt.  Drags.";  which  last  we  take  to  rep- 
resent "  Foresters'  Light  Dragoons."  On  the  ob- 
verse is  an  oval  centre-piece  depicting  a  harp  with 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  25 

crown  surmounting  a  massive  castellated  structure ; 
and  fitted  into  the  corners  —  a  word  in  each  —  the 
following:  "July  —  Anno  —  Dom  — 1779,"  show- 
ing the  date  at  which  the  Independent  Wicklow 
Foresters'  Light  Dragoons  were  embodied.  A 
similar  device  to  this  obverse  one  is  painted  on, 
not  worked  into,  the  other  flag,  which  is  a  large 
infantry  ensign  of  thin  silk,  now  unfortunately 
giving  way  before  the  ravages  of  time. 

John  Henry  Paruell,  when  a  young  man,  went 
about  seeing  the  world  with  his  cousin  Lord 
Powerscourt ;  and  while  travelling  in  America  he 
met,  at  Washington,  the  daughter  of  Admiral 
Stewart,  of  the  American  navy.  He  made  her 
acquaintance ;  they  became  intimate ;  an  attach- 
ment sprang  up  between  them  ;  and  after  a  while 
the  aristocratically  connected  young  Irishman 
took  to  wife  the  daughter  of  the  old  republican 
sea-warrior.  The  marriage  was  solemnized  in 
New  York.  By  this  step  John  Henry  Parneli 
brought  into  the  family  the  blood  of  two  men  who 
had  dared  death  in  mortal  combat  with  the  British 
forces,  and  who,  we  may  be  sure,  had  trans- 
mitted to  their  offspring  little  love  of  the  power 
whom  they  had  considered  it  a  duty  and  an  honor 
to  oppose  even  to  the  shedding  of  blood.  A  man's 
marriage  is  often  the  most  momentous  action  of 
his  own  life.  In  the  case  of  John  Henry  Parneli 
it  was  large  in  its  consequences  to  Great  Britain 
as  well  as  to  Ireland ;  for  the  issue  of  his  marriage 


26  C.   S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

was  five  sons  and  six  daughters  ;  among  those  sons 
•was  the  present  virtual  leader  of  the  Irish  people, 
and  if  the  land  question  of  Ireland  bids  fair  to  get 
a  satisfactory  settlement  largely  through  his  guid- 
ance, the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  has  received 
at  his  hands  a  shock  to  its  traditions  from  which 
it  can  but  slowly  recover,  if  indeed  it  ever  do  re- 
cover at  all. 

At  this  stage  of  our  record  we  shall  leave  the 
Parnells  for  a  while,  and  turn  to  Charles  Stewart 
Parnell's  maternal  ancestry.  We  shall  find  in 
their  history  many  facts  of  deep  interest. 

More  than  a  century  ago,  a  Mr.  Stewart,  of 
Belfast,  who  was  married  to  a  lady  whose  maiden 
name  was  Sarah  Ford,  left  Ireland  in  deep  disgust 
with  the  state  of  affairs  there,  and  determined  to 
settle  in  what  were  then  called  the  British  colonies 
in  North  America,  but  which  are  now  infinitely 
better  known  to  all  the  world  as  the  United  States. 
The  Fords,  we  need  hardly  observe,  were  origi- 
nally a  Connaught  clan,  and  of  as  pure  Milesian 
blood  as  any  in  Ireland.  A  great  number  of 
Northern  Irishmen  emigrated  to  America  like  Mr. 
Stewart  about  that  period,  and  one  and  all,  as 
even  Mr.  Fronde  admits,  bore  with  them  a  burn- 
ing hate  of  English  misgovernment. 

After  the  Irish  fashion,  the  Stewarts  had  a  large 
family.  On  the  28th  of  July,  1778,  the  youngest 
of  eight  children,  a  sou,  was  born  to  them  in 
Philadelphia,  but  a  few  weeks  over  two  years  sub- 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  27 

sequent  to  the  famous  "  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence." This  son  of  Irish  parents,  overflowing  with 
the  vitality  of  the  eternal  Celtic  race  from  which 
he  drew  his  origin,  lived  to  become  one  of  the 
great  naval  heroes  of  history,  had  a  career  which 
cannot  be  described  as  anything  less  than  roman- 
tic ;  and  died  after  bearing  for  seven  years  the 
title  of  "admiral"  —  he  being  the  very  first  on 
whom  that  title  was  conferred  in  the  navy  of  the 
United  States.  Previous  to  1862  the  designation 
of  the  highest  rank  in  that  navy  was  "  commo- 
dore ; "  and  Admiral  Stewart  had  been  so  dubbed 
formally  for  a  great  many  years.  He  was  the 
maternal  grandfather  of  Charles  Stewart  Parnell. 
We  mean  to  record  his  career  with  some  detail ; 
but  for  the  sake  of  clearness  in  the  general  narra- 
tive we  shall  leave  him  for  a  little  while,  and  turn 
for  a  moment  to  another  branch  of  C.  S.  Parnell's 
maternal  ancestry. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  American  war  of  inde- 
pendence there  was  settled  in  Boston  a  young 
lawyer  whose  name  was  Tudor.  A  very  English 
name,  every  reader  will  exclaim  who  remembers 
that  it  was  the  family  name  of  the  infamous  mon- 
arch, Henry  the  Eighth  of  England.  A  very 
English  name  it  was,  in  truth.  But  Englishmen 
had  been  driven  from  their  own  land  by  govern- 
mental persecution  just  as  Irishmen  had  been  ; 
all  who  entertained  ideas  of  liberty,  whether  in 
the  civil  or  religious  domain,  were  obnoxious  to 


28  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

the  powers  that  were.  So  it  came  to  pass  that 
hosts  of  English  colonists  brought  with  them 
from  their  own  to  American  shores  an  abiding 
sense  of  wrong,  and  a  firm  determination  to  resist 
any  encroachments  of  the  home  government  on 
their  new-found  liberties.  Therefore,  when  this 
English-descended  lawyer  found  the  colonists 
ready  to  take  up  arms  for  freedom's  sake,  he  was, 
like  the  Irish-descended  lawyer,  John  Sullivan, 
one  of  the  first  to  declare  for  it.  He  joined  the 
army  of  the  immortal  Washington,  and  went 
through  all  the  perils  of  the  revolutionary  war. 

In  doing  so,  besides  risking  life  and  limb, 
Tudor  sacrificed  his  tenderest  feelings  for  what  he 
was  convinced  was  his  duty.  He  was  ardently 
attached  to  a  young  lady  whose  people  were  de- 
voted adherents  of  the  British  cause.  They  were 
engaged  to  be  married  when  the  civil  commotion 
arose.  It  opposed  a  barrier  to  their  union,  which 
would  not  be  allowed  because  forsooth  he  was  a 
"rebel"  to  the  British  Government.  He  went  on 
fighting  against  that  Government  as  if  he  were 
wholly  indifferent  on  the  subject  of  the  marriage  ; 
but  after  five  years,  when  success  was  smiling  on 
the  cause  of  the  insurgents,  it  was  conveyed  to 
him  that  all  objections  would  be  withdrawn. 
There  are  many  men  who,  under  like  circum- 
stances, would  have  exhibited  the  obstinacy  of 
wounded  vanity ;  but  Mr.  Tudor  loved  his  sweet- 
heart for  her  gracious  self,  not  for  her  political 


C.    8.    PAENELL,   M.  P.  29 

notions — whether  they  happened  to  be  what  he 
thought  right  or  wrong — so  he  gladly  espoused 
her  after  their  long  separation. 

The  spirit  of  Judge  Tudor  was  communicated 
to  his  offspring;  and  when,  after  a  generation, 
the  rebellious  stream  of  the  Tudor  blood  was 
mingled  with  the  fiery,  indignant  stream  of  the 
Stewarts',  the  mixture  was  not  of  a  kind  very 
susceptible  to  impressions  favoring  the  notion 
that  the  inhabitants  of  England  are  a  heaven- 
ordained  governing  race. 

Admiral  Stewart's  father  had  been  the  master 
of  an  American  merchant  vessel.  In  less  than 
two  years  after  the  birth  of  his  youngest  child, 
Charles,  he  died.  The  revolutionary  war  was 
still  being  actively  waged,  with  the  natural  result 
of  damaging  almost  every  commercial  interest  in 
the  country.  Mrs.  Stewart's  resources  were 
crippled  like  those  of  the  mass  of  her  fellow- 
citizens  ;  and  in  these  circumstances  it  was  no 
easy  matter  for  the  widow  to  rear  and  educate 
eight  children.  But  this  daughter  of  the  Fords, 
who  is  said  to  have  been  a  woman  of  talent  and 
great  energy,  accomplished  her  task  single- 
handed  for  several  years.  Eventually  she  gave 
her  children  a  step-father  in  the  person  of  Captain 
Britton,  who  was  a  member  of  Congress,  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  Washington,  and  the  commander 
of  the  body-guard  of  that  most  illustrious  because 
most  unselfish  of  successful  soldiers.  Captain 


30  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

Britton  was  fond  of  young  Charles  Stewart,  took 
him  about  with  him,  and  on  one  occasion,  in  the 
presence  of  both  Houses  of  Congress,  introduced 
the  boy,  when  he  was  about  the  age  of  twelve,  to 
Washington  himself.  The  incident  made  a  deep 
impression  on  the  youngster's  mind.  Even  in  his 
old  age  he  was  fond  of  recalling  it,  and  used  to 
speak  with  glee  of  the  effect  it  had  on  his  Phila- 
delphian  playfellows.  "Not  one  of  them,"  he 
would  say,  "dared  knock  a  chip  off  my  shoulder 
after  that." 

Charley  was  a  wild,  courageous  boy,  and  cher- 
ished from  an  early  age  a  positive  passion  for  the 
sea.  It  would  appear  as  though  his  naval  aspira- 
tions were  discouraged  in  the  home  circle  ;  for 
about  the  age  of  thirteen  he  gave  his  friends  the 
slip,  ran  away  from  school,  and  began  his  career  on 
the  ocenn — a  career  destined  to  be  so  glorious — in 
the  very  humble  capacity  of  cabin  boy  on  board  a 
merchant  vessel.  Just  two  years  afterwards  he 
was  near  losing  his  life  at  the  hands  of  a  leader  of 
the  negro  insurgents  of  Hayti  —  namely,  Chris- 
tophe,  who  afterwards  became  king  of  the  Island. 
Christophe  had  been  a  slave  and  a  tavern-cook  ; 
but  when  the  insurrection  broke  out  against  the 
French  in  San  Domingo  he  joined  the  insurgents, 
and  partly  on  account  of  his  enormous  stature 
and  great  strength,  partly  by  reason  of  his  reck- 
less daring  and  abundant  energy,  soon  rose  to  a 
position  of  high  command.  We  append  a  de- 


C.   S.    PAENELL,  M.  P.  31 

scription  of  the  incident  above  referred  to,  taken 
from  an  old  Life  of  Stewart :  — 

"  The  Loraine,  owned  by  Britton  and  Massey,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  commanded  by  Captain  Church, 
came  to  anchor  at  St.  Domingo,  in  1793,  just  at  the 
time  of  the  insurrection.  Charles  Stewart  was  on 
board,  still  at  the  lowest  round  of  the  sailor's  ladder, 
for  he  was  only  fifteen  years  old  and  had  been  but  two 
years  at  sea.  One  day,  Christophe,  a  leader  of  the 
insurrectionists,  came  alongside  in  a  row-boat,  with 
several  of  his  sable  followers.  The  'citizen-general' 
was  attired  in  the  elegant  uniform  of  a  French  officer, 
which  illy  accorded  with  his  ungainly  carriage  and  bare 
black  feet.  Two  of  the  teeth  of  his  lower  jaw  pro- 
truded like  the  tusks  of  an  animal,  and  added  to  the 
incongruous  and  grotesque  effect.  The  awkward  row- 
ing of  the  natives,  together  with  the  comical  appear- 
ance of  the  magnate,  were  too  much  for  Charley. 
When  Christophe  asked  him  to  throw  him  something 
by  which  to  ascend  the  side  of  the  ship,  a  spirit  of 
deviltry  seized  the  lad,  and  instead  of  tossing  the  rope 
to  the  visitor,  he  shook  it  in  his  face,  and  burst  into  a 
laugh. 

"In  an  instant  Charley  realized  the  extent  of  his 
offence,  and,  fearing  vengeance,  ran  towards  the  cabin 
for  protection.  The  commodore  always  said,  in  telling 
this  story,  that  while  on  his  way  to  the  cabin  'some- 
thing told  him'  that  if  he  went  there  it  would  cost  him 
his  life.  He  at  once  changed  his  course,  hurried  to  the 
place  where  the  cook  kept  his  wood,  opened  the  trap- 
door, and  jumping  into  the  hole,  replaced  the  cover 
and  shoved  a  stick  through  the  riug,  so  that  the  door 


32  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

could  not  be  opened  from  above.  He  had  not  been 
there  many  minutes  when  he  heard  Christophe  and  his 
men  searching  for  him  overhead. 

"  It  seems  that  the  blacks  finally  succeeded  in  getting 
on  board,  the  leader  blind  with  rage.  He  demanded 
that  that '  white-headed  boy '  should  be  given  up  to 
him  immediately,  and  swore  that  he  would  have  the 
fellow's  life.  Captain  Church  was  not  sufficiently  pro- 
vided with  arms  to  prevent  violence,  and  pretended  to 
aid  him  in  his  quest,  after  having  failed  to  convince 
him  that  the  lad  had  jumped  overboard  and  swam  to  a 
French  vessel  which  was  lying  not  far  off.  Every  por- 
tion of  the  Loraine  was  searched,  and  the  sailors  were 
even  compelled  to  shift  a  part  of  the  cargo  in  the  hold. 

"  At  last  Christophe  caught  sight  of  the  trap-door, 
beneath  which  the  boy  was  tying  in  a  state  of  fearful 
suspense.  The  moment  the  sailors  found  that  this  had 
been  fastened  from  beneath,  they  knew  that  Charley  must 
have  made  here  his  hiding-place,  and  they  swore  still 
more  stoutly  that  he  had  swam  to  the  French  vessel. 
They  exerted  themselves,  however,  in  fruitless  mock 
efforts  to  lift  the  door ;  but  Christophe,  not  satisfied, 
thrust  his  sword  down  on  every  side,  the  blade  just 
escaping  young  Stewart,  who  cuddled  himself  up  into 
small  space  in  the  centre. 

"  At  last  the  search  was  given  up,  and  the  captain,  in 
order  to  appease  Christophe,  made  him  the  magnificent 
present  of  a  pair  of  stockings.  These  pleased  the 
savage  so  that  he  fairly  danced  with  delight ;  his  good 
humor  was  still  further  augmented  by  the  gift  of  a  pair 
of  shoes.  The  fellow  finally  got  drunk  on  their  liquors, 
supplied  without  stint,  and  in  this  condition  the}-  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  rid  of  a  most  unwelcome  guest. 


C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P.  33 

"A  week  or  two  after  this  adventure  —  the  ship  still 
remaining  at  St.  Domingo,  as  it  was  found  difficult  to 
dispose  of  the  cargo  in  consequence  of  the  disturbed 
state  of  affairs — young  Stewart  resolved  to  venture 
ashore.  The  captain  gave  him  permission,  at  the  same 
time  warning  him  of  his  danger.  But  Stewart  thought 
that,  as  Christophe  had  only  seen  his  white  head,  he 
could  easily  disguise  himself  so  that  he  would  not 
recognize  him.  Accordingly  he  put  on  a  different  rig, 
and  pulled  his  hat  over  his  eyes  so  as  to  hide  his  silver- 
colored  hair. 

"  The  very  first  man  he  met,  in  sauntering  up  the 
street,  was  Christophe  —  French  uniform,  sword,  pis- 
tols, musket,  tusks,  and  all.  We  may  be  sure  that  the 
little  fellow's  heart  sank  within  him,  and  that  his  first 
impulse  was  to  take  to  his  heels.  But  the  boy's  char- 
acteristic presence  of  mind  and  coolness  in  the  face  of 
danger  saved  his  life.  Carelessty  whistling  a  tune,  he 
kept  on  steadily,  and  in  passing  Christophe  his  clothes 
actually  brushed  against  him.  He  felt  that  the  savage 
had  his  eye  fixed  upon  him  suspiciously ;  and  after 
passing  him  heard  with  affright  the  click  caused  by  the 
cocking  of  a  musket.  The  boy  still  moved  on  slowly, 
and  apparently  with  the  utmost  unconsciousness  ;  but 
turning  the  first  corner,  he  scampered  down  a  side 
street  as  fast  as  his  legs  could  carry  him.  The  rest  of 
the  day  he  lay  hidden  in  the  mountains,  returning  after 
dark  to  shore,  and  finding  means  to  make  his  way 
back  to  the  ship." 

But  if  Charley  Stewart  at  the  age  of  fifteen  was 
still  only  at  the  foot  of  the  seaman's  ladder,  he  did 
not  long  remain  so.  Before  he  was  yet  twenty  he 


34  C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P. 

had  risen,  step  by  step,  through  every  grade  of 
the  merchant  service,  to  the  command  of  an  India- 
man — a  position  almost  unparalleled  at  so  early  an 
age.  Still  Charles  Stewart  was  not  content.  He 
wished  to  devote  himself  to  his  country's  service ; 
for  the  French  had  made  certain  demands  regard- 
ing rights  of  search  and  of  capture  of  American 
vessels  which  the  Government  could  not  but  with- 
stand, and  the  two  republics  were  on  the  verge  of 
war.  Therefore,  Charles  Stewart  sought  and 
found  admission  to  his  country's  armed  navy,  and 
on  the  9th  of  March,  1798,  he  was  duly  commis- 
sioned a  lieutenant  of  the  frigate  United  Stales 
commanded  by  the  gallant  Wexford  man,  Com- 
modore John  Barry,  whose  business  it  was  to  put 
an  end  to  the  depredations  of  French  privateers 
on  American  commerce  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  West  Indies. 

In  little  more  than  two  years  —  to  wit,  on  the 
16th  or"  July,  1800 — the  young  lieutenant  re- 
ceived an  independent  command  in  the  schooner 
Experiment,  fourteen  guns.  His  cruising  ground 
was  still  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  West  Indies. 
He  had  now  the  opportunity  of  distinguishing 
himself,  and  he  hastened  to  avail  himself  of  it. 

-From  a  sketch  of  his  life  we  copy  the  following 
summary  of  his  brilliant  exploits  in  the  Experi- 
ment :  — 

"  Ori  the  night  of  the  first  of  September  he  fell  in 
with,  and,  after  an  action  of  ten  minutes,  captured  the 


C.    8.    PAKNELL,    M.  P.  35 

French  schooner,  Deux  Amis,  of  eight  guns,  which  he 
sent  home  for  condemnation.  While  watering  in  Prince 
Rupert's  Bay,  in  the  island  of  Dominica,  two  British 
sloops  of  twenty  guns  each  arrived,  one  having  an 
American  named  Amos  Seeley  impressed  among  its 
crew.  Seeley  wrote  to  Stewart  imploring  his  help. 
He  at  once  opened  a  characteristic  correspondence  with 
the  British  captain,  demanding  the  release  of  the 
American,  and  in  a  personal  interview  with  the  officer 
used  such  logic  as  to  induce  him,  although  with  reluc- 
tance, to  comply.  While  cruising  at  daylight,  on  the 
13th  of  September,  two  sails  Were  discovered,  bearing 
down  on  the  Experiment,  with  the  English  colors  flying. 
The  Experiment  was  laying  to  with  the  British  signal 
of  the  day  flying.  As  they  refused  to  answer  his  signal, 
and  proved  to  be  a  brig  of  eight  guns  and  a  schooner 
of  fourteen,  Stewart  determined  to  try  the  sailing 
qualities  of  the  vessels.  Discovering  the  ExperiiMid 
could  outsail  them,  they  abandoned  the  chase,  running 
up  the  French  flag,  and  firing  a  gun  of  defiance  to  wind- 
ward. Stewart  immediately  tacked  ship  and  worked  to 
windward,  and  gaining  the  gauge  on  them  in  turn  be- 
came the  pursuer.  About  three  o'clock  in  the  evening 
she  ranged  up  on  the  larboard  quarter  of  the  stern- 
most  one  and  poured  a  broadside  into  her.  In  a  few 
minutes  the  schooner  struck  and  surrendered  to  the 
Experiment.  She  proved  to  be  the  French  schooner 
Diana,  on  board  of  which  were  a  lieutenant  and  a  de- 
tachment of  thirty  invalid  soldiers,  a  crew  of  sixt3*- 
five  men,  and  General  Rigaud  on  his  way  to  France. 
Stewart  immediately  started  after  the  brig,  but  she  had 
got  safe  beyond  his  reach.  After  disposing  of  his 
prisoners  at  St.  Christopher,,  Lieutenant  Stewart  did 


36  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

valuable  service  in  protecting  American  commerce  in 
those  seas. 

"On  the  16th  of  November,  at  midnight,  he  fell  in 
with  an  armed  vessel,  which  refused  to  answer  his  hail. 
After  repeated  efforts  to  learn  the  character  of  the 
stranger,  he  sent  a  shot  into  her,  which  was  answered 
by  a  broadside.  A  running  fight  of  forty  minutes  en- 
sued, when  the  unknown  struck.  She  proved  to  be  a 
privateer  of  Bermuda,  canying  eight  guns.  She  was 
much  cut  up  in  her  rigging,  and  had  two  shots  through 
her  bottom.  Stewart  lay  by  all  next  day  assisting  in 
the  repair  of  her  damages. 

"The  Experiment  being  ordered  home,  Lieutenant 
Stewart  on  the  voyage  rescued  sixty-seven  persons 
from  a  reef  off  Saona  Island,  and  carried  them  to  their 
homes  in  St.  Domingo,  the  Government  of  which  island 
wrote  a  warm  letter  of  thanks  to  President  Jefferson." 

A  reduction  of  the  navy  was  carried  out  by  the 
Government  in  1801,  when  only  thirty-six  out  of 
the  whole  body  of  lieutenants  were  retained  in 
the  service.  Of  these  thirty-six  Charles  Stewart 
was  one.  He  lost  his  independent  command, 
however,  being  appointed  first  officer  in  the  frig- 
ate Constellation  in  1802.  When  the  vessel  re- 
turned from  her  cruise,  the  war  with  Tripoli  was 
afoot.  In  times  of  strife  men  like  Stewart  are 
properly  valued  in  every  navy.  This  was  espec- 
ially the  case  in  the  infant  one  of  the  United 
States.  Stewart  was  at  once  appointed  to  the 
command  of  a  new  war-brig,  the  /Siren,  carrying 
sixteen  guns,  and  ordered  forthwith  to  join  the 


C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P.  37 

squadron  off  the  coast  of  Barbary.  Here  he  was 
employed  blockading  Tripoli  and  the  harbors  ad- 
jacent ;  in  which  service  he  succeeded  in  captur- 
ing a  British  brig  and  a  Greek  vessel.  We  read, 
that  "on  the  3d  of  August,  1804,  the  Siren  led  the 
attack  on  the  town,  flotilla,  and  batteries  of  Trip- 
oli. For  the  gallant  manner  in  which  Stewart 
brought  his  vessel  into  action  and  prompt  obedi- 
ence to  signals,  the  commodore  the  next  day  in 
general  orders  thanked  him.  For  the  whole  of 
August  and  part  of  September  the  squadron  vig- 
orously bombarded  the  city  and  batteries  of 
Tripoli  whenever  the  wind  would  permit  their 
approach  and  withdrawal.  Upon  all  such  occa- 
sions, night  or  day,  they  sent  their  flaming  shells 
or  crushing  round  shots  at  the  foe,  sinking  sev- 
eral of  their  flotilla  and  damaging  the  batteries 
and  houses."  Th6  conclusion  of  a  treaty  of  peace 
put  an  end  for  the  time  to  Stewart's  chances  of 
distinguishing  himself  further. 

So  far  the  incidents  of  Charles  Stewart's  naval 
career  were  evidences  of  his  gallantry  and  skill. 
His  next  service  was  one  which  exhibited  in  him 
clear-sightedness,  good  sense,  and  highly  honor- 
able feeling.  He  had  been  promoted  to  the-  rank 
of  Master  Commandant,  put  in  charge  of  a  thirty- 
two  gun-ship,  the  Essex,  and  despatched  with  a 
squadron  to  Tunis,  between  which  State  and  the 
Union  there  was  trouble  brewing.  The  American 
consul  sought  refuge  on  board  the  fleet,  so  hos- 


38  C.    S.    PAENELL,    M.  P. 

tile  was  popular  feeling  among  the  Tunisians. 
The  posture  of  affairs  was  so  serious,  we  read, 
that  "a  council  was  convened  on  board  the  flag- 
ship, the  situation  was  explained,  and  the  opinion 
of  the  officers  demanded  whether  hostilities  ought 
not  to  be  immediately  commenced.  Captain 
Stewart  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  there  was  no 
power  under  the  constitution  which  authorized 
hostilities  and  war  on  others,  but  that  which  was 
lodged  exclusively  with  Congress  ;  that  the  Pres- 
ident could  not  exercise  this  power  without  the 
action  and  authority  of  Congress,  much  less  the 
commander  of  an  American  squadron  ;  that  due 
respect  for  the  laws  of  nations  forbade  aggres- 
sion, and  only  justified  self-defence  by  vigilance 
and  convoy  for  the  protection  of  citizens,  their 
property  and  commerce  ;  but  where  hostile  at- 
tempts were  made  on  either,  he  would  be  justi- 
fied in  seizing  all  persons  engaged  in  them,  but 
no  farther  would  his  country  sanction  his  acts." 
His  sound  reasoning  and  discretion  prevailed, 
and  amicable  relations  were  soon  restored ;  the 
consul  returning  to  his  post,  and  the  Bey  of 
Tunis  sending  a  special  Minister  to  the  United 
States.  When  President  Jefferson  received  from 
the  consul-general  a  copy  of  that  opinion  as  de- 
livered to  the  council,  he  expressed  to  his  Cabinet 
"the  high  satisfaction  he  felt  at  having  an  officer 
in  the  squadron  who  comprehended  the  interna- 


0.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  39 

tional  law,  the  constitution  of  his  country,  and 
the  policy  of  his  Government." 

Naturally  promotion  followed  a  man  who  could 
not  only  fight  and  handle  a  ship,  but  could  think 
clearly  and  judiciously  for  his  country's  interests 
and  good  name  as  well.  A  post-captaincy  —  then 
the  highest  rank  in  the  United  States  navy  —  was 
bestowed  on  him  the  22d  of  April,  1806  ;  and  as 
there  was  no  need  to  employ  him  on  active  ser- 
vice, his  versatile  talents  were  turned  to  account 
in  another  way  —  namely,  in  superintending,  at 
New  York,  for  a  couple  of  years,  the  construc- 
tion of  a  flotilla  of  gun-boats. 

Several  years  of  peace  followed,  which  Post- 
Captain  Stewart,  with  the  sanction  of  the  author- 
ities, utilized  for  his  own  profit  in  commercial 
enterprises  which  added  considerably  to  his 
means.  However,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war  with  England  in  1812,  the  first  thought  of 
the  hero  was  not  for  himself  or  his  interests  but 
for  his  country's.  He  hastened  to  Washington 
to  offer  his  services ;  but  was  stunned  by  receiv- 
ing, at  the  navy  department,  the  dismaying  in- 
telligence that  President  Madison's  Cabinet,  in 
view  of  the  overwhelming  superiority  of  the 
British  navy,  had  decided  to  collect  all  the  Union 
ships  of  war  in  New  York  harbor,  partly  to  de- 
fend the  place  and  partly  to  save  the  infant  navy 
from  annihilation.  Stewart  and  Captain  Brain- 
bridge  joined  in  an  effort  to  convert  the  Secretary 


40  C.    S.    PAENELL,    M.  P. 

of  the  Navy  from  the  holding  of  a  tenet  so  humil- 
iating to  the  country  ;  and  that  same  evening  they 
addressed  a  joint  letter  to  President  Madison,  so 
spirited,  powerful,  and  convincing  "as*  to  cause 
him  to  immediately  direct  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  to  send  the  vessels  of  war  to  sea  to  seek 
their  enemy,  and  he  would  take  the  responsibility 
on  himself."  So' that,  before  a  shot  was  fired, 
Stewart  had  already  covered  himself  with  glory 
by  being  so  deeply  instrumental  in  taking  his 
country  out  of  a  position  of  disgraceful  timidity 
and  national  humiliation.  The  result  fully  proved 
the  wisdom  as  well  as  the  courage  of  both  Brain- 
bridge  and  Stewart ;  for  the  naval  annals  of  this 
war  of  1812  are  among  the  brightest  records  of 
heroic  feats  of  arms  and  marvellous  successes  of 
which  Americans  can  legitimately  boast. 

The  day  after  the  writing  of  the  timely  and  in- 
fluential letter  just  referred  to,  Stewart  received 
instructions  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to 
proceed  immediately  to  New  York  to  take  com- 
mand of  the  Argus,  with  which  he  was  to  scour 
the  West  Indies  and  the  Gulf  Stream,  and  to 
attack  and  capture  every  British  ship  he  could, 
whether  of  war  or  merchandise.  In  the  Secre- 
tary's communication  occurs  the  following  sen- 
tence, so  highly  flattering  to  Stewart :  "  To  your 
judgment,  your  valor,  and  your  patriotism  is 
committed  the  best  course  to  be  pursued  to  ac- 
complish the  object  of  these  instructions." 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  41 

Nevertheless  Stewart  did  not  assume  command 
of  the  Argus.  A  better  vessel  was  put  at  his 
disposal.  We  read  :  "At  a  ball  given  to  Captain 
Stewart  and  his  officers  before  they  proceeded  to 
sea  in  the  Constellation,  by  the  citizens  of  "Wash- 
ington, in  December,  1812,  about  ten  o'clock  at 
night,  midshipman  Hamilton,  the  son  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy,  arrived  with  the  flag  of  the 
Macedonian  (British)  frigate,  and  despatches 
from  Captain  Decatur,  announcing  his  having 
captured  her  with  the  frigate  United  /States.  The 
dancing  ceased,  the  flag  was  unrolled,  and  the 
despatch  read  to  the  President  and  the  assembled 
ladies  and  gentlemen.  The  wildest  scene  of  glo- 
rious confusion  followed.  A  venerable  Senator  of 
the  United  States  embraced  the  President ;  and 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  in  a  spirit  of  frankness 
beyond  praise,  announced  to  those  assembled  :  'It 
is  to  Captains  Brainbridge  and  Stewart  you  owe 
your  naval  victories.' " 

The  Constellation  was  the  vessel  in  which 
Charles  Stewart  set  forth  against  the  British  ;  but, 
notwithstanding  her  starry  appellation,  her  per- 
formances were  not  brilliant  on  that  cruise.  It 
was  her  gallant  commander's  ill  fortune  to  be 
blockaded  in  the  harbor  of  Norfolk,  Virginia,  by 
a  fleet  of  heavy  ships  belonging  to  the  enemy, 
against  which  it  would  have  been  sheer  madness 
to  dream  of  contending.  But  to  be  inactive  at 
such  a  crisis  in  the  fortunes  of  his  land  was  the 


42  C.    S.   PAKNTELL,   M.  P 

idea  which  of  all  others  he  could  least  entertain. 
He  accordingly  got  himself  transferred  to  the 
frigate  Constitution,  in  which  he  set  sail  from  Bos- 
ton in  December,  1813,  for  the  West  Indies.  In  a 
short  time  he  had  met  and  destroyed  several  Brit- 
ish ships,  including  the  Picton,  of  sixteen  guns,  a 
privateer  of  ten  guns,  a  schooner,  and  a  brig. 
The  Constitution  had  put  so  hurriedly  to  sea  that 
after  a  few  months  she  had  to  return  to  get  new 
sails,  instead  of  the  worn-out  ones  she  carried. 
On  her  way  she  was  chased  by  two  of  the  enemy's 
frigates,  and  Captain  Stewart,  not  satisfied  that 
his  craft  was  just  then  in  proper  fighting  trim, 
skilfully  gave  them  the  slip,  and  ran -her  almost 
under  the  guns  of  the  fort  of  Marblehead,  about 
sixteen  miles  north-east  of  Boston,  where  she  was 
in  safety.  In  a  few  days  she  was  able  to  make 
Boston  to  refit. 

It  had  happened  many  years  previously  that  in 
an  idle  moment  Charles  Stewart  had  submitted  to 
the  imposition  of  one  of  that  class  of  frauds 
known  as  "fortune-tellers,"  by  whom  he  had  been 
informed  that  it  was  his  fate  to  marry  "the  belle 
of  Boston."  By  one  of  those  singular  coinci- 
dences which  sometimes  happen,  the  prediction 
was  literally  verified.  While  waiting  for  his  ship 
to  be  got  ready  he  fell  in  love  with  and  espoused 
Miss  Delia  Tudor,  daughter  of  the  Judge  Tudor 
before  mentioned,  and  who  was  pre-eminently 
"the  belle"  of  the  city.  Short  time  was  allowed 


0.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  43 

afterwards  for  nuptial  bliss.  The  Constitution 
was  ready  for  another  cruise,  and  the  bridegroom 
could  no  longer  tarry  with  his  bride.  As  he 
parted  from  her  he  asked  her  what  present  she 
would  like  him  to  bring  for  her  on  his  return. 
"Bring  me  a  British  frigate,"  was  her  patriotic 
answer.  "You  shall  have  two,"  he  replied,  his 
eyes  kindling  with  love  and  pride ;  "and  I  shall 
wear  my  wedding  uniform  in  battle." 

It  was  in  the  December  of  1814  that  he  again 
put  to  sea,  as  little  regardful  of  the  Winter's  wild 
storms  as  of  the  enemy's  countless  ships.  Two 
of  the  latter  were  soon  in  his  hands.  One  he  de- 
stroyed ;  the  other,  which  had  on  board  a  valuable 
cargo,  he  sent  to  New  York. 

By  February,  1815,  he  was  off  the  coast  of 
Spain.  There  was  some  repining  among  the  sub- 
ordinate officers  of  the  Constitution  at  the  ill  luck 
of  the  vessel  in  not  having  had  a  brush  with  the 
enemy  off  the  European  coast.  Charles  Stewart 
overheard  them  grumble.  Perhaps  he  had  a  pre- 
sentiment of  what  was  about  to  come;  perhaps  — 
and  this  is  more  likely  —  he  was  actually  in  search, 
from  information  he  had  picked  up,  of  certain 
British  war-ships  in  his  neighborhood.  Whatever 
his  inspiration,  it  is  certain  that  he  bade  the  offi- 
cers to  keep  up  their  spirits,  for  the  chance  of  dis- 
tinguishing themselves  for  which  they  sighed  was 
close  at  hand.  "I  assure  you,  gentlemen,"  he 
concluded,  "that  before  another  sun  sets  you  will 


44  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

be  engaged  in  battle  with  the  enemy,  and  it  will 
not  be  with  a  single  ship."  This  was  said  on  the 
morning  of  the  19th  of  February. 

About  half-past  one  o'clock  on  the  same  day  a 
sail  some  twelve  miles  away  was  descried  by  the 
look-out  on  the  masthead  of  the  Constitution. 
Chase  was  given  until  four  o'clock,  by  which 
time  the  distance  between  the  vessels  was  lessened 
by  one-half,  when  unfortunately,  under  the  power 
of  a  freshening  breeze,  the  main-royal  mast  of 
the  Constitution  was  carried  away.  Nothing 
could  well  be  more  vexatious  to  men  "  spoiling  for 
a  fight"  as  were  those  onboard,  since  the  accident 
in  the  short  February  evening  gave  the  chase  an 
excellent  chance  of  slipping  aAvay.  However,  the 
gallant  captain  wasted  no  time  in  fretting  over  the 
mishap  ;  but  got  to  work  at  once  in  repairing  the 
damage,  and  with  such  celerity  that  in  half  an 
hour  a  new  spar  had  been  put  up,  the  royal  sail 
again  set,  and  the  Constitution  was  forging  ahead 
at  her  utmost  speed.  Just  at  this  time  another 
ship  of  war  was  reported  by  the  look-out,  and  ev- 
idently exchanging  signals  with  the  chase.  Cap- 
tain Stewart  understood  the  signals,  and  from 
them  divined  that  the  vessels  were  British  men-of- 
war  and  consorts.  What  followed  is  so  well  de- 
scribed in  the  Life  of  Stewart,  from  which  we 
have  before  quoted,  that  we  shall  make  use  of  the 
description  here  :  — 

"  One  of  the  vessels  being  painted  with  double  }Tel- 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  45 

low  streaks  and  false  ports  in  the  waist,  had  at  a  dis- 
tance the  appearance  of  a  double-decked  ship,  and 
Lieutenant  Ballard  told  Captain  Stewart  that  she  must 
be  at  least  a  fifty -gun  ship.  He  replied  that  she  looked 
too  small  to  be  a  ship  of  that  class,  but  might  be  an 
old  fortj'-four  on  two  decks.  '  However,'  he  added, '  be 
this  as  it  may,  you  know  I  promised  you  a  fight  before 
the  setting  of  to-morrow's  sun,  and  if  we  do  not  take  it 
now  that  it  is  offered,  we  can  scarcely  have  another 
chance.  We  must  flog  them  when  we  catch  them, 
whether  she  has  one  gun-deck  or  two  !.' 

"At  five  o'clock  the  leeward  ship  bore  up  before  the 
wind,  under  easy  sail,  to  enable  the  chased  ship  to  join 
her.  The  Constitution  having  gained  considerably  on 
the  chase,  with  a  hope  of  crippling  her,  or  bringing 
her  to  action  before  she  could  join  her  consort,  fired  a 
shot  at  her  which  fell  short.  The  chase  continued  until 
the  two  ships  joined,  and  a  little  before  seven  o'clock, 
the  moon  shining  brightly,  the  British  ships  hauled  to 
the  wind  in  a  line  ahead  of  each  other,  about  two 
hundred  yards  apart.  Reducing  to  fighting  sail,  and 
heaving  to  with  the  main-top  sails  to  the  masts,  they 
awaited  the  American's  coming  up.  The  Constitution 
was  on  the  starboard  quarter  of  the  sternmost  vessel, 
about  one  mile  distant.  Furling  in  all  except  the  top- 
sails, jib,  and  topgallant  sails,  reduced  to  fighting  trim, 
she  gradually  luffed  to  starboard,  and  ranged  along  the 
windward  side  of  the  sternmost  ship  until  she  reached 
the  desired  position,  which  was  at  the  apex  of  the  equi- 
lateral triangle,  the  British  ships  forming  the  base  line. 
Stewart  heaving  the  Constitution  to,  with  the  mainsails 
to  the  mast  and  the  jib  in  brails,  he  fired  a  shot,  not  at 
either,  but  between  both,  with  a  view  to  invite  the  ac- 


46  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

tion  and  draw  their  fire.  His  motive  for  this  was  to 
make  the  British  commit  the  first  act  of  hostility,  he 
having  boarded  a  Russian  ship  three  days  before,  direct 
from  London,  and  received  from  her  captain  a  copy  of 
the  London  Times,  containing  the  heads  of  the  treaty 
of  Ghent,  as  signed  by  the  Ministers  of  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  and  said  to  have  been  ratified 
by  the  Prince  Regent.  Supposing  the  British  ships 
might  have  later  information  than  himself,  he  wished 
to  give  them  a  chance  to  decline  battle  if  peace  had 
been  made  between  the  two  countries." 

Here  we  may  interrupt  the  narrative  for  a  mo- 
ment to  note  how  scrupulously  Captain  Stewart 
respected  the  rules  and  regulations  of  naval  war- 
fare, or,  as  it  would  be  phrased  in  the  London 
Parliament  kept  himself  "in  order."  But  to  con- 
tinue :  — 

"  The  Cyane  (Captain  Gordon  Falcon)  and  the 
Levant  (Captain  Hon.  George  Douglas)  answered 
with  broadsides  and  musketry,  and  the  Constitution 
opened  with  a  division  on  the  gun  deck  and  another  on 
the  forecastle  on  the  Levant,  and  two  divisions  on  the 
gun  deck  and  another  on  the  quarter  deck  on  the 
Cyane.  The  Constitution  maintained  the  same  position 
throughout  the  fight,  as  a  nearer  approach  would  have 
thrown  one  of  the  ships  out  of  the  line  of  her  fire,  and 
exposed  her  to  being  raked.  Thus  the  battle  was  con- 
tinued for  about  fort}7"  minutes,  when  the  Levant  wore 
off  before  the  wind  and  retired  from  the  fight.  Her 
consort  the  Cyane,  immediately  after  wore  short 
round,  and  hauling  close  to  the  wind,  poured  in  her 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  47 

broadside  with  her  colors  struck  and  hanging  over  the 
taffrail,  as  the  Constitution  was  in  the  act  of  wearing 
around  after  her.  Not  the  slightest  injury  was  done  by 
this  fire.  Stewart,  though  feeling  incensed,  did  not 
return  it,  determined  to  hold  the  officer  in  command 
responsible.  The  matter  was  afterwards  explained  as 
occurring  in  mistake.  The  Cyane  was  immediate!}'' 
taken  possession  of,  and  her  officers  sent  on  board  the 
Constitution,  which  filled  away  to  leeward  after  the 
Levant,  followed  by  the  prize,  with  the  American  en- 
sign flying.  The  Levant,  finding  it  impossible  to 
escape,  wore  ship,  and  ranged  under  larboard  tack 
along  the  starboard  battery  of  the  Constitution  in  close 
and  gallant  style,  and  delivered  her  fire.  The  Consti- 
tution poured  into  her  a  broadside,  and  wearing  short 
around,  plunged  into  her  stern  three  chase  shots,  which 
arrested  her  escape  and  brought  down  her  colors.  She 
was  immediately  boarded  and  her  officers  sent  to 
Stewart's  ship. 

"The  principal  injury  received  by  the  Constitution 
was  in  her  rigging  ;  that  of  the  enemy's  ships  in  their 
hulls.  The  Americans  had  three  killed  and  twelve 
wounded,  three  of  the  latter  mortally.  The  Cyane  lost 
twelve  killed  and  twenty-six  wounded ;  the  Levant 
twenty -three  killed  and  sixteen  wounded  —  total 
British  casualties,  seventy-seven.  The  Constitution 
mounted  fifty-one  guns,  twenty-four  of  which  were 
thirty-two  pounders ;  the  Cyane  thirty-two  guns,  of 
which  twenty-two  were  thirty-two  pounders ;  and  the 
Levant  twenty-one  guns,  eighteen  of  which  were  thirty- 
two  pounders.  The  odds  against  the  Constitution  is 
most  clearly  shown  in  the  calibre  of  the  guns,  the 
British  carrying  sixteen  more  thirty-two  pounders." 


48  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

In  his  History  of  the  American  Navy,  J.  Fen- 
nimore  Cooper,  commenting  on  this  splendid 
naval  victory,  Says  :  — 

"  The  manner  in  which  Captain  Stewart  handled  his 
ship  on  this  occasion  excited  much  admiration  among 
nautical  men ;  it  being  unusual  for  a  single  vessel  to 
engage  two  enemies  and  escape  being  raked.  So  far 
from  this  occurring  to  the  Constitution,  however,  she 
actually  raked  both  her  opponents ;  and  the  manner 
in  which  she  backed  and  filled  in  the  smoke,  forcing 
her  two  antagonists  down  to  leeward  when  they  were 
endeavoring  to  cross  her  stern  or  forefoot,  is  surely 
the  most  brilliant  manoeuvring  in  naval  annals." 

A  couple  of  anecdotes  relating  to  this  sea-fight 
can  hardly  fail  to  be  interesting  here. 

While  the  victor  was  sitting  in  his  cabin,  talk- 
ing with  one  of  his  prisoners,  a  British  captain, 
there  entered  a  midshipman  of  the  Contilution,  to 
inquire  if  the  crew  might  have  their  usual  allow- 
ance of  grog.  Now  the  ordinary  time  of  serving 
out  grog  had  passed  before  the  action  began  ;  so 
Captain  Stewart,  in  surprise,  asked  if  the  men  had 
not  been  supplied  already.  "No,  sir,"  replied 
the  midshipman ;  "  it  was  mixed  ready  for  serving 
just  before  the  battle  began,  but  the  forecastle 
men  and  other  old  sailors  of  the  crew  said  they 
didn't  want  any  Dutch  courage  on  board,  and  cap- 
sized the  grog-tub  in  the  lee-scuppers."  That  is 
precisely  the  sort  of  spirit  which  at  least  deserves 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  49 

success,  and  which  generally  succeeds  in  attain- 
ing it. 

The  two  British  captains  were  foolish  enough 
to  dispute  in  Stewart's  presence  concerning  the 
conduct  of  the  battle,  and  to  blame  each  other  for 
not  having  done  this,  that,  or  the  other  which  must 
infallibly  have  brought  about  a  different  result  to 
the  action.  Such  paltry  endeavors  to  shift  blame 
from  each  to  the  other  were  eminently  distasteful 
to  a  truly  brave  man,  as  Stewart  was ;  and  at 
leng'li  he  felt  bound  to  interfere.  "  Gentlemen," 
said  he,  "there  is  no  use  in  getting  warm  about 
it ;  it  would  have  been  all  the  same  whatever  you 
might  have  done.  If  you  doubt  that,  I  will  put 
you  all  on  board  again,  and  you  can  try  it  over." 
Englishmen  would  say  that  the  remark  was  only  a 
specimen  of  "  Yankee  bumptiousness  ;  "  impartial 
critics  may  see  in  it  merely  the  confidence  of  a 
man  who  knew  why  and  how  he  had  won,  and 
who  felt  himself  able  to  do  again  what  he  had 
already  done.  At  all  events  the  British  cap- 
tains did  not  jump  at  his  offer,  but  preferred  to 
remain  snug  and  safe  as  prisoners  of  war  on  board 
the  Constitution. 

On  the  10th  of  March  the  Constitution  and  her 
two  splendid  prizes  arrived  at  Port  Praya  in  the 
island  of  Santiago,  the  largest  of  the  Cape  de 
Verde  group.  Next  day  the  British  captains 
were  allowed  on  shore,  on  parole,  to  make  ar- 
rangements for  the  transport  of  their  crews  to 


50  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

Barbadoes.  They  secured  two  brigs  in  the  har- 
bor. While  the  Constitution's  boats  were  carry- 
ing provisions,  etc.,  to  the  brigs,  a  heav}^  British 
squadron,  under  Sir  George  Collier  was  discov- 
ered approaching  in  the  thick  fog,  within  three 
miles  of  the  position  of  Stewart's  ship  and  her 
prizes.  It  was  the  well  known  policy  of  the 
British  ships  of  war  to  attack  their  enemy's 
cruisers  in  neutral  waters  if  it  could  be  done  with- 
out danger.  They  preferred  reimbursing  any 
claims  made  upon  such  neutral  by  an  enemy  than 
to  allow  that  enemy's  vessel  to  escape  and  commit 
depredations  upon  their  commercial  marine.  Stew- 
art was  well  aware  of  this  ;  he  appreciated  accu- 
rately the  utterly  unscrupulous  character  of  the 
British ;  and  he  instantly  recognized  the  danger 
of  his  position.  Beating  to  quarters,  making  all 
sail,  and  cutting  cable,  he  got  under  way,  and 
stretched  out  of  the  harbor,  followed  by  the  two 
prizes.  The  British  fleet  hurried  immediately  in 
pursuit,  the  Acasta,  of  fifty  guns,  gradually 
crawling  up  to  the  prize  Cyane.  Stewart  signalled 
tire  latter  to  tack  and  separate  from  him,  which  she 
did,  and  doubled  their  rear,  and  arrived  safe  in 
New  York.  The  fleet  held  steadily  in  pursuit  of 
the  Constitution;  the  Newcastle,  sixty-four  guns 
(Captain  Lord  George  Stewart),  coming  well  up. 
Fortunately,  however,  she  opened  tire  by  divi- 
sions, which  had  the  effect  of  retarding  her  sailing 
much.  Stewart  apprehended  most  from  the  posi- 


C.    S.    PAftNELL,    M.  P.  51 

tion  and  weathorly  qualities  of  the  Acasta,  which 
he  saw  would  soon  obtain  a  position  to  hold  tho 
Constitution  in  check  until  her  more  powerful  con- 
sort could  come  up.  Fighting  was  out  of  the 
question,  as  his  crew  was  short  hy  reason  of  hav- 
ing to  subtract  from  it  the  crews  which  took  pos- 
session of  the  prizes ;  while  the  crews  of  the 
prizes  themselves  were  of  necessity  much  too  weak 
to  handle  those  vessels  in  an  encounter  with  a 
powerful  squadron.  Nothing  was  left  to  Com- 
mander Stewart,  therefore,  than  to  trust  to  his 
skill  in  manoeuvring  to  get  away  unscathed.  He 
consequently  signalled  the  Levant  to  tack,  and 
lighted  his  shot-furnace,  in  the  hope  of  putting  a 
few  red-hot  balls  into  the  enemy's  hull  and  setting 
her  on  fire,  so  forcing  her  consorts  to  go  to  her 
relief. 

Immediately  after  the  Levant  tacked,  a  signal 
was  thrown  out  from  the  Leander,  the  sixty-four 
gun  ship  of  Sir  George  Collier,  who  commanded 
the  squadron,  for  the  Acasta  to  tack  after  the 
Levant,  and  the  Leander  and  the  Newcastle  tack- 
ing at  the  same  time  to  cut  off  her  retreat  by  their 
rear,  thus  compelled  the  Levant  to  return  to  Port 
Praya,  where  she  anchored  under  the  guns  of  the 
forts,  in  neutral  waters,  in  which,  according  to  in- 
ternational law,  she  should  have  been  perfectly 
safe  from  attack.  The  British  fleet,  however,  fol- 
lowed her  and  entered  the  harbor,  taking  her 
thence  by  force  with  them  to  the  West  Indies, 


52  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

together  with  the  boats  of  the  Constitution  and 
her  anchors,  and  those  of  the  Cyane  and  Levant, 
left  in  the  neutral  waters  of  the  harbor.  Not  the 
slightest  attempt  was  made  by  the  forts  to  pre- 
serve the  neutrality  of  the  waters  inviolate.  The 
Portuguese,  being  weak;  were  afraid  to  stand  up 
for  their  rights ;  and  the  British,  Avho  have  :t 
great  respect  for  the  strong,  and  none  whatever 
for  the  weak,  trampled  without  scruple,  after  their 
wont,  on  the  undoubted  rights  of  the  Portuguese, 
simply  because  they  were  weak. 

Stewart,  however,  contrived  to  elude  them,  and 
in  the  Constitution  proceeded  to  Brazil,  landed  his 
prisoners,  and  returned  to  Boston.  The  news  of 
his  remarkable  victory  was  received  with  enthusi- 
asm throughout  the  country.  In  Boston  he  and 
his  officers  were  honored  with  a  triumphal  pro- 
cession. In  New  York  the  council  voted  him  the 
freedom  of  the  city,  gave  liim  a  gold  snuff-box, 
and  him  and  his  officers  a  public  dinner.  Penn- 
sylvania voted  him  the  thanks  of  the  common- 
wealth and  a  gold-hilted  sword.  Congress  passed 
a  vote  of  thanks  to  him  and  his  brave  officers, 
caused  a  gold  medal  to  be  struck  in  his  honor, 
and  presented  it  to  him  in  commemoration  oi 
the  event. 

The  remainder  of  Admiral  Stewart's  career  we 
condense  from  an  excellent  sketch  of  his  life  which 
appeared  in  the  Bordentown  Register,  and  to 
which  we  have  been  already  indebted. 


C.   S.    PARNELL,  M.  P.  53 

The  war  having  terminated  with  Great  Britain, 
Captain  Stewart  never  again  met  the  enemy  in 
battle.  Yet  his  active  career  of  usefulness  in  the 
service  of  his  country  was  not  ended.  In  the 
Mediterranean  squadron,  commanded  by  Commo- 
dore Chauncey,  a  widespread  spirit  of  mutiny  had 
manifested  itself.  So  far  had  it  gone  that  the 
malcontent  officers  had  actually  "  threatened  to 
draw  their  swords  on  their  commanders."  Com- 
modore Stewart  was  in  1817  sent  in  ship-ofthe- 
line  Franklin  to  supersede  Chauncey  and  restore 
the  proper  discipline.  In  1819  he  ordered  a 
court-martial  to  meet  on  board  the  Guerriere,  to 
try  a  marine  for  an  alleged  offence.  The  officers, 
however,  preferred  to  sit  at  a  hotel  in  Naples, 
where  the  man  was  tried  and  convicted.  The 
commodore,  knowing  that  the  session  of  the  court 
at  any  place  than  that  directed  by  orders  was 
illegal,  disapproved  the  proceedings,  released  the 
prisoner,  and  informed  the  court  of  his  action. 
The  court  passed  a  series  of  resolutions,  which  act 
was  instantly  followed  by  the  arrest  of  every  com- 
manding officer  of  the  vessels  of  the  squadron. 
This  summary  proceeding  at  once  restored  a 
healthy  state  of  feeling  throughout  the  squadron. 
The  President  and  Cabinet  approved  of  Stewart's 
proceeding,  l>ut  as  the  officers  expressed  regret  at 
their  conduct,  the  matter  was  dropped. 

While  the  squadron  lay  at  Naples  the  Emperor 
of  Austria  and  suite  visited  the  Franldin.  The 


54  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

grand  master  of  the  Empress,  arrayed  in  a  mag- 
nificently brilliant  uniform,  being  somewhat  near- 
sighted, mistook  a  wind  sail  for  a  mast,  and  fell 
from  the  deck  to  the  cock-pit,  breaking  his  ankle. 
The  commodore,  who  was  engaged  in  conversation 
at  the  time,  not  seeing  what  had  happened,  asked 
what  the  matter  was.  The  old  quartermaster  of 
the  watch,  whose  duty  it  was  to  see  everything, 
far  and  near,  replied  coolly,  "Oh,  nothing,  sir; 
only  one  of  them  bloody  kings  has  fallen  down 
the  hatch  ! " 

In  1821  Commodore  Stewart  was  sent  in  the 
Franklin  to  the  Pacific.  The  Spanish-American 
provinces  were  struggling  for  independence 
Spain  was  a  friendly  Power  to  whom  the  United 
States  owed  justice  and  a  strict  neutrality.  The 
"Patriots"  possessed  all  American  sympathies. 
The  Pacific  was  swarming  with  buccaneers  claim- 
ing the  protection  of  Spain,  who  were  depreda- 
ting on  American  commerce,  and  the  "Patriots" 
had  declared  a  paper  blockade  of  hundreds  of 
miles  of  coast.  Stewart  owed  but  one  duty,  and 
that  was  to  his  country.  He  promptly  put  an 
end  both  to  the  nominal  blockade  and  to  the  pro- 
tected piracy. 

On  his  return  home  he  was  confronted  by  a 
long  series  of  charges,  some  of  trifling,  some  of 
serious  import,  regarding  his  demeanor  while  in 
the  Pacific.  The  Navy  Department  thought  best 
vhat  these  accusations  should  be  submitted  to  a 


C.    S.    PAKNELL,    M.  P.  55 

court-martial.  The  court  honorably  acquitted  the 
commodore,  and  stated  they  felt  compelled  "by 
a  sense  of  duty  to  go  farther,  and  to  make  un- 
hesitatingly this  declaration  to  the  world  —  that, 
so  far  from  having  violated  the  high  duties  of 
neutrality  and  respect  for  the  laws  of  nations  ;  so 
fur  from  having  sacrificed  the  honor  of  the  Ameri- 
can flag,  or  tarnished  his  own  fair  fame,  by  acting 
upon  any  motive  of  a  mercenary  or  sordid  kind  ; 
so  far  from  having  neglected  his  duty,  or  betrayed 
the  trust  reposed  in  him  by  refusing  proper  pro- 
tection to  American  citizens  and  property,  or 
rendering  such  protection  subservient  to  individ- 
ual interests,  no  one  circumstance  has  been  de- 
veloped throughout  the  whole  course  of  this 
minute  investigation -into  the  various  occurrences 
of  a  three  years'  cruise,  calculated  to  impair  the 
confidence  which  the  members  of  this  court,  the 
navy,  and  the  nation  have  long  reposed  in  the 
honor,  the  talents,  and  the  patriotism  of  this  dis- 
tinguished officer,  or  to  weaken  in  any  manner 
the  opinion  which  all  who  know  him  entertain  of 
his  humanity  and  disinterestedness.  These  vir- 
tues only  glow  with  brighter  lustre  from  this 
ordeal  of  trial,  like  the  stars  he  triumphantly  dis- 
played when  valor  and  skill  achieved  a  new  victory 
to  adorn  the  annals  of  our  naval  glory. 

Upon  the  commodore's  return  from  Washington, 
where  his  trial  took  place,  to  his  native  city  Phil- 


56  C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P. 

adelphia,  his  friends  greeted  him  with  a  public 
dinner. 

Many  years  later  on,  his  popularity  continued 
so  great  that  an  effort  was  made  to  "run  "  him  for 
the  Presidency.  In  the  course  of  four  months  no 
less  than  sixty-seven  papers  declared  for  him. 
But  the  project  did  not  receive  his  sanction  ;  he 
gave  it  no  countenance ;  he  would  not  even  dis- 
cuss it ;  he  was  "unusually  nervous  and  fidgety" 
during  the  agitation  of  the  subject ;  and  at  length 
its  promoters  were  impelled  to  give  it  up.  He  re- 
gained his  usual  equanimity  only  when  his  name 
ceased  to  be  bandied  about  by  the  political  press. 

Commodore  Stewart  while  on  shore  was  con- 
stantly employed  upon  naval  boards  and  commis- 
sions, court-martials,  etc.,  and  for  many  years  was 
in  command  of  the  Philadelphia  Navy  Yard, 
from  which  latter  position  he  was  relieved  at  his 
own  request  in  1861.  He  was  long  the  confiden- 
tial and  trusted  adviser  of  the  Navy  Department 
and  the  naval  committees  of  Congress.  In  1855 
Congress  created  a  retiring  board,  and  Stewart 
was  among  its  illustrious  victims.  A  few  years 
afterwards  a  special  Act  of  Congress  was  passed, 
conferring  upon  him  the  title  of  "Senior  Flag  Of- 
ficer" on  the  active  list.  He  refused  to  receive 
the  commission,  claiming  that  he  already  held  that 
rank.  His  commission  as  Rear  Admiral,  the  first 
sent  out  under  the  new  law,  bears  date  July  16th, 
1862. 


C.    S.    PAENELL,   M.  P.  57 

Admiral  Stewart  was  in  his  eighty-third  year 
when  the  insurgents  of  the  South  fired  upon  Fort 
Sumpter.  It  roused  the  blood  of  the  old  man's 
heart  to  hear  of  this  insult  to  his  nation's  flag:. 

o 

At  once  he  wrote  to  the  department  imploring  to 
be  put  on  active  service.  "I  am  young  as  ever," 
he  pleaded  "to  fight  for  my  country."  It  was 
hard  to  deny  the  old  hero  the  opportunity  to  draw 
once  more  his  sword  in  defence  of  the  flag  and 
Government  he  loved  so  well,  but  younger  men 
were  required  for  the  steamship  service,  to  which 
he  was  a  stranger. 

He  lived  on  for  nine  years  more,  towards  the 
last  suffering  fearfully  from  a  deadly  disease.  In 
his  Life  we  find  this  passage  :  — 

"  We  know  bow  he  suffered,  and  how  gradually,  yet 
surel}*,  he  was  failing.  And  yet  we  heard  how  near 
the  invalid  came  to  blowing  himself  up  in  some  strange 
chemical  experiment,  and  what  fun  he  made  of  the 
danger.  To  the  last  he  was  cheerful  and  hopeful  — 
busied  with  affairs,  dictating  letters,  cracking  jokes, 
expecting  soon  to  be  well  again.  Then  he  could  not 
leave  his  bed  —  was  unable  to  speak  without  agony  — 

wrote  on  a  slate  '  I  want ' .  They  could  not  read 

what  it  was  he  wanted,  his  hand  trembled  so.  Per- 
haps it  was  the  cup  of  cold  water  the}'  pressed  to  his 
parched  lips.  Thus,  surrounded  by  those  who  loved 
him,  the  brave  spirit  passed  peacefully  away." 

"  His  death  took  place  on  the  afternoon  of  Novem- 
ber 6th,  18G9,  he  being  m  the  ninety-second  year  of 
his  age.  The  council  of  Bordentown  passed  appropri- 


58  C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P. 

ate  resolutions,  the  bells  tolled  their  requiem,  business 
was  suspended,  and  the  citizens  paid  their  reverence. 
A  government  steamer  was  despatched  from  the  Phila- 
delphia Navy  Yard  to  convey  his  body  to  that  city. 
It  grounded,  and  the  remains,  accompanied  by  the 
mayor,  council,  and  distinguished  citizens,  were  con- 
veyed by  rail.  With  the  naval  escort,  the  stars 
shining  brightly,  they  proceeded  to  Independence 
Hall,  where  silently  they  laid  him  down,  while  the 
old  bell  tolled  forth  its  solemn  notes.  The  next  day, 
after  thousands  of  citizens  had  paid  their  humble  rev- 
erence, amidst  the  booming  of  guns,  the  muffled  notes 
of  bells,  and  the  funeral  strains  of  music,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  distinguished  men  of  the  nation  and  of  the 
city,  and  thousands  of  veterans  of  the  late  war  for  the 
Union,  the  old  hero's  body  was  given  back  to  mother 
earth." 

His  personal  appearance,  manner,  and  mental 
characteristics  are  described  as  follows  :  — 

"Commodore  Stewart  was  about  five  feet  nine 
inches  high,  and  of  a  dignified  and  engaging  presence. 
His  complexion  was  fair,  his  hair  chestnut,  eyes  blue, 
large,  penetrating,  and  intelligent.  The  cast  of  his 
countenance  was  Roman,  bold,  strong,  and  command- 
ing, and  his  head  finely  formed.  His  control  over  his 
passions  was  truly  surprising,  and  under  the  most  irri-. 
tating  circumstance  his  oldest  seaman  never  saw  a  ray 
of  anger  flash  from  his  eye.  His  kindness,  benevo- 
lence, and  humanity  were  proverbial,  but  his  sense  of 
justice  and  the  requisitions  of  duty  were  as  unbending 
as  fate.  In  the  moment  of  greatest  stress  and  danger 
lie  was  as  cool,  and  quick  in  judgment,  as  he  was 


C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P.  59 

utterly  ignorant  of  fear.  His  mind  was  acute  and 
powerful,  grasping  the  greatest  or  smallest  subjects 
with  the  intuitive  mastery  of  genius.  He  was  a 
thorough  seaman,  and  not  only  fully  understood  his 
profession  as  a  naval  commander,  but  all  the  various 
interests  of  commerce,  the  foreign  policy  of  his  coun- 
try, the  principles  of  government  and  the  law  of  na- 
tions. His  numerous  official  letters  and  reports,  his 
correspondence  and  public  writings,  embracing  as  they 
did  a  wide  range  of  subjects,  showed  great  accuracy 
of  information." 

Characteristic  of  the  man  are  the  following 
anecdote  and  incident :  — 

The  Franklin,  while  under  his  command,  was  lying 
one  night  at  anchor  in  Gibraltar  Bay,  when  a  sudden 
blow  came  up  from  the  eastward,  causing  her  to  drag 
her  anchors  and  go  adrift.  A  midshipman  aroused 
the  commander  with  the  startling  news  :  "  How's  the 
wind  ? "  said  Stewart.  "  From  the  east,"  was  the 
reply ;  "  she  has  dragged  down  hill,  and  is  drifting 
towards  Algeria."  "  Well,"  was  the  quiet  rejoinder, 
"  the  anchors  will  take  when  she  drifts  over  there,  as  it 
will  be  up  hill  on  the  other  side." 

"  I  never  lost  but  one  tooth  in  my  life,"  he  said  to  a 
friend ;  "  it  ached,  and  I  pulled  it  out  with  a  bullet 
mould,  aboard  ship,  in  a  gale  of  wind." 

"  As  a  story-teller  Stewart  was  inimitable  ;  he  was 
famous,  moreover,  for  repartee,  and  an  ever  ready  wit. 
His  manners  were  always  polite,  even  distinguished ; 
he  dispensed  a  liberal  hospitality,  and  at  the  head  of 
his  table  he  was  unsurpassed.  Throughout  he  pre- 


60  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

served  a  native  dignity,  and  parried  with  ease  every 
familiarity,  as  well  as  the  many  inconvenient  demands 
which  men  in  his  position  are  constantly  subject  to." 

On  a  high  bluff  of  the  Delaware,  south  of 
Black's  Creek,  in  the  environs  of  Bordentown,  is 
the  old  country  seat  of  Admiral  Stewart,  called 
by  him  Montpelier,  but  now  generally  known  as 
Ironsides.  A  former  proprietor  caused  to  be 
erected  the  present  large  mansion  house.  The 
admiral  purchased  it  in  1816,  added  another  story, 
tastefully  laid  out  the  grounds,  and  planted  many 
•white  pines,  whose  tops  now  reach  the  height  of  a 
hundred  feet. 

Admiral  Stewart  left  two  children,  Delia  Tudor 
and  Charles  Tudor  Stewart.  Charles  graduated 
at  college,  became  a  civil  engineer,  and  assisted 
in  laying  out  railroads.  At  twenty-seven  years 
of  age  he  performed  so  well  some  delicate  work 
in  investigating  the  affairs  of  a  New  Orleans  firm 
engaged  in  supplying  timber  for  foreign  navies 
that  he  was  taken  into  partnership,  and  entrusted 
with  the  entire  management  of  the  business  in 
Europe.  Being  well  acquainted  with  Prince  Mu- 
rat,  whom  he  had  often  befriended  during  his 
exile  and  poverty  in  Bordentown,  the  prince  pre- 
sented him  to  his  cousin  the  Emperor  Napoleon 
the  Third,  and  the  chiefs  of  the  Naval  Department 
of  France,  from  whom  he  obtained  heavy  con- 
tracts for  timber.  In  comparatively  a  few  years 
he  amassed  a  large  fortune.  After  travelling 


C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P.  61 

much  through  Europe  he  went  to  New  Orleans, 
where  he  studied  law  and  became  quite  noted  in 
his  new  profession.  He  died  several  years  ago, 
leaving  his  estate  to  his  sister  Delia,  who,  as  has 

C3  ' 

been  previously  stated,  had  become  the  wife  of 
John  Henry  Parnell. 

John  Henry  and  Delia  Parnell  had  five  sons  and 
six  daughters.  Five  of  the  latter  and  three  of  the 
former  are  still  living — namely,  John  Howard, 
Charles  Stewart,  Henry  Tudor,  the  Misses  Fanny, 
Anna,  isind  Theodosia,  and  two  married  sisters  — 
Mrs.  Thompson,  who  resides  in  Paris  with  her 
husband ;  and  Mrs.  Dickenson,  who  generally 
lives  in  her  native  land.  On  the  death  of  their 
father,  at  the  comparatively  early  age  of  forty- 
eight,  he  left  behind  him  three  estates  in  Ireland. 
Charles  Stewart  Parnell  was  his  fourth  son. 

Charles'  elder  brother,  John  Howard  Parnell, 
inherited  a  considerable  property  in  the  county 
Armagh,  on  which  he  usually  resides.  He  also 
owns  an  extensive  farm  in  the  State  of  Alabama. 
At  the  general  election  of  1874  he  stood  as  a 
Home  Rule  candidate  for  the  representation  of 
county  Wicklow,  but  was  defeated.  The  remain- 
ing and  youngest  brother,  Henry  Tudor  Parnell, 
was  educated  to  the  bar,  and  is  the  owner  of 
landed  property  in  the  county  Kilkenny.  He 
mostly  lives  in  England.  The  three  unmarried 
sisters  of  Mr.  C.  S.  Parnell,  as  is  now  pretty 
generally  known,  share  his  Irish  sympathies,  are 


62  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

proud  of  the  honest  manly  part  he  has  taken  in 
Irish  politics,  and  are  ever  ready  to  defend  it  and 
him  against  all  slanderous  assailants.  They  were 
the  first  to  start  subscriptions  in  America  for  the 
Irish  people  threatened  with  famine,  early  in  the 
last  quarter- of  1879. 

Mrs.  Delia  Parnell,  the  daughter  of  Admiral 
Stewart,  brought  to  her  Irish  home  of  Avondale 
a  strong  American  love  of  independence,  and  a 
hearty  hate  of  British  greed  and  desire  for  domi- 
nation. She  became  in  thought  and  feeling  an 
Irish  Nationalist ;  and  from  her  mainly  is  derived 
the  warm  popular  sympathies  which  glow  in  the 
breasts  of  four  of  her  children.  During  her  resi- 
dence in  Ireland  she  used  the  means  at  her  dis- 
posal, most  liberally  in  alleviating  the  perennial 
miseries  of  the  poor  around  her.  At  the  time  of 
the  Fenian  troubles  she  exerted  herself  in  effect- 
ing the  escape  of  some  who  were  badly  "  wanted  " 
by  the  authorities  —  a  circumstance  which  pro- 
cured for  her  house  in  Upper  Temple  Street, 
Dublin,  the  distinction  of  a  visit  from  and  search 
by  the  police.  In  the  end  she  retired  to  the  home 
of  her  youth,  Bordentown,  New  Jersey,  with  her 
unmarried  daughters ;  at  which  place  she  spends 
most  of  the  year,  but  winters  at  New  York.  As 
the  heir  of  her  father  and  brother,  as  well  as 
through  the  resources  left  her  by  her  husband, 
she  is  mistress  of  an  ample  income. 

Charles  Stewart  Paruell  was  born  in  the  mouth 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  63 

of  June,  1846,  at  Avondale,  Rathdrum,  the  man- 
sion now  in  his  own  possession. 

As  a  child,  his  mother  says,  he  showed  an  un- 
common love  of  study  ;  devoting  far  more  time 
to  his  books  than  to  the  ordinary  sports  of  child- 
hood. His  memory  was  admirable,  and  he  was 
by  no  means  deficient  in  wit  and  sprightliness. 
As  a  boy  of  ten  he  amused  his  fellow-passengers 
in  a  coach  on  a  country  road  by  comparing  the 
population  and  military  strength  of  the  various 
countries  in  Europe,  with  a  view  to  determining 
their  respective  chances  in  the  event  of  a  general 
war.  At  this  time,  however,  his  mind  ran  less 
in  the  direction  of  politics  than  toward  mechani- 
cal science,  and  he  amused  his  friends  and  taxed 
his  own  mind  not  a  little  in  the  effort  to  solve  the 
problem  of  a  perpetual-motion  machine.  Again, 
when  he  wanted  some  bullets  and  had  no  mould 
in  which  to  form  them,  he  conceived  the  idea  of 
making  .them  as  shot  is  made  —  by  dropping  hot 
lead  from  a  high  tower.  The  family  knew  noth- 
ing of  his  design  till  they  were  startled  by  the 
butler's  cry — "Come  down  there,  you  young 
rascal!  What  are  you  trying  to  do?"  and  the 
next  moment  that  worthy  man  rushed  up  the 
winding  staircase  to  the  roof  in  time  to  save 
the  ingenious  lad  from  breaking  his  neck  by  a  fall 
of  fifty  feet  to  the  ground  below,  where,  on  the 
well-worn  stones,  lay  a  cake  of  flattened  lead. 

Another  anecdote  of  the  politician  would  cause 


64  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

a  moment's  wonder  that  he  has  not  become  a  mil- 
itary rather  than  a  civil  leader  of  men.  The 
nursery  at  home  was  well  garrisoned  with  Lilipu- 
tian  soldiers,  of  whom  Charles  commanded  one 
well  organized  division,  while  his  sister  directed 
the  movements  of  another  and  opposing  force. 
These  never  came  into  actual  conflict,  bu_t  faced 
one  another  impassively,  while  their  respective 
commanders  peppered  with  pop-guns  at  the  en- 
emy's lines.  For  several  days  the  war  continued 
without  apparent  advantage  being  gained  by  either 
side.  One  morning,  however,  heavy  cannonading 
was  heard  in  the  furthest  corner  of  the  room 
(produced  by  rolling  a  spiked  ball  across  the 
floor).  Pickets  were  called  in,  and  in  three  min- 
utes from  the  firing  of  the  first  shot  there  was  a 
general  engagement  all  alonsf  the  line.  Strange 

O  C;      O  O  O 

as  it  may  seem,  Miss  Parnell's  soldiers  fell  by  the 
score  and  hundred,  while  those  commanded  by  her 
brother  refused  to  waver  even  when  palpably  hit. 
This  went  on  for  some  time,  until,  as  she  obsti- 
nately refused  to  surrender,  the  young  lady's  host 
was  completely  routed  and  victory  perched  upon 
the  standards  of  her  foe.  It  was  learned,  from 
his  own  confession  an  hour  after  this  Waterloo, 
that  Charles  had,  before  the  battle  began,  glued 
his  soldiers'  feet  securely  to  the  table. 

Following  the  un-Irish  fashion  of  his  caste  — 
that  of  the  upper  classes  —  John  Henry  Pnrncll 
determined  to  give  his  son  an  English  education. 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  65 

He  seems  to  have  been  of  opinion  also  that  the 
process  'of  Anglicizing  could  not  be  too  soon 
begun  on  the  child ;  for  at  the  age  of  six  little 
Charles  was  carried  over  to  and  left  at  a  private 
school  near  the  picturesque  little  town  of  Yeovil 
in  Somersetshire.  There  he  remained  for  about 
three  years.  A  violent  attack  of  typhoid  fever 
seized  him  at  the  Yeovil  school,  where  he  lay  for 
weeks  at  the  point  of  death.  His  constitution 
never  afterwards  quite  rallied  from  the  effects  of 
that  dreadful  prostration  ;  and  for  years  he  was 
considered  absolutely  a  delicate  boy.  How  he 
has  borne  up  under  the  accumulated  fatigues,  ex- 
ertions, and  travels  undergone  during  his  active 
political  career  seems,  when  read  in  the  light  of 
the  fact  last  mentioned,  but  little  short  of  the' 
miraculous. 

A  couple  of  years  spent  amid  the  bracing  airs 
of  the  Wicklow  hills  restored  him  sufficiently  to 
admit  of  his  being  again  sent  to  school.  The 
place  selected  was  again  in  England  —  namely,  at 
a  spot  called  Kirk-Langley,  near  the  town  of 
Derby.  Here  he  grew  apace,  springing  up  into  a 
tall  slender  young  lad.  As  the  time  drew  nigh 
when  it  was  meant  that  he  should  enter  a  univer- 
sity he  was  placed  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Mi\ 
Whishaw,  then  residing  at  Chipping-Norton,  not 
far  from  the  city  of  Oxford.  This  reverend 
gentleman  afterwards  became  chaplain  to  the 
School  for  the  Blind  at  Liverpool,  and  enjoys  the 


66  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
pulpit  orators  of  that  great  emporium. 

John  Henry  Parnell  had  entered  the  university 
of  Cambridge  himself;  and  the  .same  university  he 
selected  for  his  sou  Charles,  who  matriculated 
there  at  the  age  of  eighteen.  It  was  the  father's 
wish  that  his  son  should  go  to  the  bar ;  but  the 
son  had  no  liking  for  the  lawyer's  life  or  work, 
and  resolutely  opposed  the  parental  choice  of 
a  destiny  for  him.  He  carried  his  point,  almost 
as  a  matter  of  course. 

He  remained  but  two  years  at  the  university, 
and  so  did  not  graduate.  Following  in  his  father's 
footsteps,  he  went  abroad  to  see  the  world,  and 
travelled  in  the  United  States  during  the  years 
1872  and  1873. 

As  a  youth,  Charles  Stewart  Parnell  showed  no 
particular  interest  in  the  affairs  of  Ireland  —  how 
could  he  with  such  a  denationalizing  course  of 
training  as  was  inflicted  on  him?  —  and  when  he 
discussed  Irish  politics  with  his  sisters  he  fre- 
quently took  the  Conservative  side,  to  annoy 
them  in  a  harmless  way.  This  humor  sometimes 
worried  his  mother,  who,  as  she  declares,  has  an 
American  horror  of  Toryism.  Like  his  father, 
John  Henry  Parnell,  Charles  was  a  skilful  crick- 
eter, and  when  at  home  always  took  part  in  the 
game,  which  is  much  played  in  Wicklow.  In 
those  days  he  was  something  of  a  wag,  and  would 
keep  the  table  in  a  roar. 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  67 

But  in  the  November  of  1867  an  incident  had 
occurred  in  Manchester  which  fastened  itself  on 
his  memory  —  the  execution  of  Allen,  Larkin, 
and  O'Brien.  As  he  had  entered  on  manhood, 
and  learned  to  think  seriously  of  men  and  events, 
he  dwelt  on  "the  Manchester  three"  and  their 
cruel  fate,  and  thought  of  the  brief,  pregnant 
prayer  which  came  from  their  lips  as  they  hov- 
ered on  the  dizzy  verge  of  eternity — the  immortal 
"  God  save  Ireland  ! "  At  length  he  resolved  to  do 
what  in  him  lay  for  her  safety.  He  consulted  with 
his  uncle  Charles  Stewart,  then  living  in  Paris, 
and  his  resolve  received  the  approval  of  the  brave 
old  admiral's  son.  Next  he  laid  his  intention  be- 
fore his  mother ;  and  we  need  hardly  observe  that 
Mrs.  Delia  Purn ell  was  not  the  one  to  offer  him  op- 
position in  such  a  cause.  Finally  he  took  the  step 
of  joining  the  Home  Rule  League — a  decisive  one 
in  many  ways  for  him,  but  especially  because  it 
cut  him  off  as  a  political  heretic  from  several  near 
relatives  with  whom  he  would  naturally  have 
wished  to  live  in  the  closest  unity,  political  as 
well  as  social. 

Having  thus  thrown  in  his  lot  with  the  people 
and  their  supreme  cause  —  the  cause  of  self-gov- 
ernment—  he  was  eager  to  work  and  make  sacri- 
fices in  their  behalf.  The  opportunity  soon  came. 
Immediately  after  the  general  election  of  1874, 
Colonel  Taylor,  one  of  the  members  for  Dublin 
County,  having  accepted  a  post  in  the  Govern- 


68  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

ment,  it  was  needful  that  he  should  seek  re- 
election. The  country  was  then  full  of  spirit  and 
hope,  and  it  was  determined  that  he  should  not 
have  his  seat  without  a  fight  for  it.  But  a  candi- 
date was  wanted  who  would  bo  willing  to  spend 
money  freely  on  the  election,  for  the  general  good 
of  the  cause,  and  in  the  full  knowledge  that  for 
the  expenditure  he  must  not  expect  a  seat  in  the 
House  of  Commons. 

Charles  Stewart  Parnell  was  at  hand.  He  was 
asked  if  he  would  be  the  man  in  the  gap  on  this 
occasion,  and  he  willingly  consented  to  take  up 
the  uninviting  position  of  a  candidate  foredoomed 
to  defeat. 

Though  the  contest  for  Dublin  County  was  from 
the  first  a  hopeless  one  on  the  Home  Rule  side,  it 
was,  nevertheless,  deemed  judicious  to  hold  a  pub- 
lic meeting  in  Dublin,  in  support  of  Mr.  Par n ell's 
candidature.  If  such  a  meeting  could  attain  no 
other  useful  purpose,  it  would  at  least  introduce 
the  young  and  unknown  politician  to  the  people 
he  was  so  eager  to  serve.  Accordingly,  the  coun- 
cil of  the  Home  Rule  League  convened  a  meeting 
in  the  Botundo  for  the  afternoon  of  the  9th  of 
March,  1874.  On  the  occasion  the  room  was 
filled,  early  as  was  the  hour;  the  platform  was 
thronged  with  an  influential  and  representative 
assemblage,  including  many  members  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

As  at  this  meeting  Mr.  Parnell  made  his  first 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  69 

appearance  before  the  public,  it  is  worthy  of  some 
notice  iu  this  narrative.  Among  the  M.P.'s  pres- 
ent the  most  prominent  were  Honest  John  Martin  ; 
Isaac  Butt,  then  in  reality  as  well  as  in  name  the 
trusted  leader  of  the  Irish  people ;  A.  M.  Sulli- 
van, Mitchell  Henry,  and  Richard  O'Shaughnessy. 
It  was  pretty  generally  known  by  then  that  Charles 
Stewart  Parnell  was  a  scion  of  the  family  which 
had  produced  Sir  John,  the  stout  and  self-sncri- 
ficing  foe  of  the  Union,  and  Sir  Henry,  the  life- 
long advocate  of  Catholic  equality  ;  so  there  was 
great  enthusiasm  among  those  assembled  on  that 
day  in  the  Rotundo  in  favor  of  the  relative  of 
those  two  worthies  who  had  come  forward  to 
identify  himself  with  the  people  and  their  cause. 
The  popular  instinct,  which  is  so  seldom  wrong  in 
public  affairs,  had  seized  on  the  fact  that  the  young 
man  was  the  inheritor  of  great  reputations  and 
unsullied  memories,  and  inferred  from  it  that  he- 
would  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  his  honored  pred- 
ecessors, and  that,  in  whatever  else  he  might 
fail,  he  might  be  relied  on  for  honesty  of  pur- 
pose. This  was  the  reason  why  the  room  was 
thronged  at  an  hour  when  men  in  the  city  are 
usually  minding  their  private  business,  as  well  as 
why  so  deep  an  interest  was  taken  iu  the  object  of 
the  meeting. 

To  Mr.  A.  M.  Sullivan  was  committed  the  duty 
of  proposing  the  first  resolution,  which  warmly 
approved  of  the  candidature  of  Mr.  Charles  Stew- 


70  C.    S.    PARSTELL,    M.  P. 

art  Parnell.  The  speaker  had  uttered  but  a  few 
sentences  when  there  occurred  one  of  those  striking 

«-^ 

coincidences,  dramatic  in  their  effect,  which  dwell 
for  ever  in  the  memory  of  beholders.  Mr.  Sulli- 
van was  expressing  the  delight  that  should  be  felt, 
and  the  hope  that  should  be  inspired,  by  seeing  the 
bearers  of  historic  names  like  that  of  Parnell 
coming  back  into  the  ranks  of  the  people ;  when, 
just  as  the  sentence  was  finished,  a  tall,  slender 
young  man  came  through  the  doorway,  and  look- 
ing neither  to  the  right  nor  the  left,  began  quietly 
making  his  way  through  the  crowd  towards  the 
platform.  Of  those  in  the  room  probably  not  a 
score  had  ever  seen  him  before,  nor  even  heard 
his  personal  appearance  described ;  yet,  by  some 
subtle  process  of  intuition,  characteristic  of  the 
Irish  mind,  it  at  once  became  known  among  the 
mass  of  the  large  gathering  that  the  new  arrival, 
so  unostentatiously  moving  up  the  room,  was  thg 
very  bearer  of  a  historic  name  to  whom  Mr.  Sul- 
livan had  just  referred.  It  was  like  the  work  of 
magic  in  its  wondrous  suddenness.  Every  eye 
was  fixed  on  the  young  man  ;  people  stood  on 
tiptoe  and  craned  their  necks  to  get  a  view  of 
him ;  while  cheer  after  cheer  resounded  through 
the  spacious  hall,  loud  and  long-sustained,  and 
threatening,  if  not  to  raise  the  roof  off"  the  place, 
at  least  to  split  the  ears  of  all  in  the  assembly. 
Such  a  scene  of  enthusiastic  but  not  disorderly 
animation  is  but  rarely  witnessed.  Eyes  bright- 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  71 

enecl,  faces  beamed,  hats  and  handkerchiefs  waved 
in  the  air,  voices  were  making  themselves  hoarse  ; 
yet  all  the  while  the  object  of  the  demonstration, 
with  bent  head  and  downcast  eyes,  quietly  pursued 
his  way,  as  if  unconscious  of  the  honor  paid  him 
—  or,  if  conscious,  as  though  he  felt  it  unfitting 
to  receive  popular  rewards  before  he  had  done 
enough  to  deserve  them.  Yet  it  was  plain  that 
his  feelings  were  deeply  moved  by  his  reception ; 
for  when  he  stepped  on  to  the  platform  he  was 
pale,  and  indeed  exhibited  the  appearance  of  agi- 
tation. When,  after  the  last  burst  of  cheering, 
Mr.  Sullivan,  resuming  his  interrupted  speech,  con- 
firmed the  instinct  of  the  audience  by  saying  that 
literally,  as  well  as  figuratively,  his  friend  Mr.  Par- 
uell  had  come  among  them,  there  was  another 
enthusiastic  outburst,  prolonged  and  deafening ; 
and  before  it  was  over  some  of  the  thoughtful 
present  were  asking  themselves  if  a  great  public 
career  lay  not  before  this  modest-looking  youthful 
politician,  whose  very  presence,  unheralded,  un- 
announced, could  take  captive  public  confidence 
in  a  manner  so  remarkable.  As  for  the  mass, 
they  waited  with  impatience  for  the  speech  they 
expected  him  to  deliver. 

The  time  came  for  him  to  speak,  and  he  rose  to 
his  feet  to  make  his  first  public  deliverance,  amid 
a  tempest  of  cheers.  All  present  saw  that  he  was 
laboring  under  strong  emotion,  for  his  color  came 
and  went,  and-  his  breast  heaved  perceptibly. 


72  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

We  can  fancy  the  thoughts  which  stirred  the 
fountains  of  feeling  within  him  to  their  veriest 
depths.  He  had  resolved  to  devote  himself  to  his 
people,  to  work  for  them  with  all  his  might ;  and 
here,  at  the  very  outset  of  his  career — before,  as 
it  were,  he  had  yet  actually  put  his  hand  to  the 
plough  —  was  he  receiving  an  earnest  of  the  grat- 
itude which  the  Irish  people  are  ever  ready  to 
lavish  on  all  who  have  even  tried  honestly  to  serve 
them.  No  doubt  he  knew  that  the  good  deeds  of 
Sir  John  and  Sir  Henry  Parnell  hadjDaved  the 
way  for  him  to  the  core  of  the  people's  hearts  ; 
and  no  doubt  also  he  inly  resolved  at  that  moment 
that  he  would  leave  behind  him  at  least  the  repute 
of  being  as  much  "a  man  of  integrity"  as  any  one 
of  his  forefathers.  At  all  events,  whatever  his 
thoughts  may  have  been,  he  was  considerably  un- 
nerved ;  for  when  he  began  to  speak  it  was  in 
broken  sentences,  and  in  a  voice  that  faltered  with 

•% 

excess  of  feeling. 

It  was  a  scene  to  be  long  remembered.  There, 
on  the  front  of  the  platform,  by  the  chairman's 
table,  he  stood,  tall,  slender,  pale,  lofty  of  fore- 
head, his  lips  unquiveriug,  his  chin  firm  and  reso- 
lute-looking, his  bosom  laboring,  his  brown  eyes 
flashing  over  the  throng,  his  back  well  set  up, 
and  indeed  with  a  carriage  that  suggested  a  mili- 
tary training.  And  while  in  the  excitement  of  that 
moment — an  excitement  the  exact  like  of  which 
he  could  never  again  know — his  tongue  grew  un- 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  73 

willing  to  express  his  thoughts,  and  forced  him  to 
hesitate  and  to  pause,  a  painfully  intent  silence 
fell  on  the  anxious  audience.  In  the  chair  was 
O'Gorman  Mahon,  sitting  with  soldierly  erectness 
in  spite  of  his  advanced  years,  and  with  a  piercing 
gaze  fixed  on  the  faltering  novice.  From  the 
right  of  the  platform  kindly  as  well  as  "  honest " 
John  Martin  surveyed  the  young  Protestant 
patriot,  with  a  benignant  smile  illuminating  his 
grave,  sweet  countenance  ;  the  homely,  genial  face 
of  Isaac  Butt  beamed  with  overflowing  good- 
nature ;  the  blue  eyes  of  Alexander  Sullivan 
glowed  in  eager  sympathy,  while  his  whole  air  in- 
dicated to  observers  an  intense  desire  to  spring  to 
the  aid  of  the  speaker,  and  to  invest  him  with  his 
own  power  of  apt  and  fluent  expression  ;  Mitchell 
Henry,  too,  from  the  left  of  the  platform,  exhib- 
ited an  unmistakably  kindly  interest  in  the  young 
speaker,  whose  native  modesty  and  excited  feel- 
ings combined  to  impair  his  delivery  of  the 
thoughts  surging  in  his  brain.  Indeed  every  eye 
was  riveted  on  him,  both  from  the  platform  and 
from  the  floor  of  the  hall ;  and  though  a  great 
many  were  criticising  unfavorably  his  first  effort 
as  a  public  speaker,  it  must  be  admitted  that  there 
was  something  in  his  appearance  which  impressed 
every  one  favorably,  for  every  one  undoubtedly 
cheered  him  without  stint. 

When  the  meeting  broke  up  there  was  a  good 
deal  of  discussion  among  groups  of  the  asscui- 


74  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

blage  concerning  the  chances  of  the  candidate's 
success  in  public  life.  The  verdict  of  many,  who 
had  noted  only  his  faltering  utterance  and  his 
broken  sentences,  was,  "  That  young  man  will  be 
a  failure.  He  can't  speak."  But  the  shrewder, 
who  had  noted  the  firm  set-up  of  his  back  and  the 
resolute  rigidity  of  month  and  chin,  more  sagely 
observed,  "There  is  something  in  that  young  man. 
It  will  come  out  in  time.  "Wait  and  see.  "  Which 
section  was  right  all  know  now. 

The  Dublin  County  election  at  which  Mr.  Par- 
nell  was  a  candidate  is  hardly  worth  referring  to 
further  now  than  to  say  that,  as  was  expected,  he 
was  beaten.  It  is  very  well  known  that  the  Tories 
of  that  county  look  carefully  after  the  Parliament- 
ary register,  year  by  year;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  hundreds  on  hundreds  of  men  possessing 
popular  sympathies,  and  having  the  needful  elect- 
oral qualifications,  are  too  apathetic  to  take  the 
trouble  to  attend  at  revision  sessions  to  secure 
their  undoubted  right  to  vote.  It  must  suffice  to 
say  that  when  the  polling  day  had  come  and  gone, 
and.the  votes  cast  had  been  counted,  it  was  found 
that  Colonel  Taylor  had  received  2,122  ;  that  Mr. 
Parnell's  tally  was  only  1,141 ;  and  consequently 
that  the  former  had  been  returned  by  a  majority 
of  981. 

One  feature  of  this  contested  election  must  still 
retain  a  strong  interest  for  every  reader.  We  al- 
lude to  Mr.  Parnell's  caudidatorial  address  to  the 


C.    S.    TARNELL,   M.  P  75 

constituency.  Few  people  have  ever  dreamt  of 
referring  to  it  since  his  defeat ;  and  yet  it  cannot 
but  be  important  to  know  on  what  publicly  an- 
nounced principles  he  began  his  political  career. 
They  furnish  a  safe  test  both  of  his  honesty  in 
adopting  them  and  his  consistency  in  adhering  to 
them.  We  have  pleasure,  therefore,  in  reproduc- 
ing the  main  portions  of  this  address,  which  we  are 
confident  our  readers  will  welcome  with  equal 
pleasure :  — 

"  Upon  the  great  question  of  Home  Rule  I  will  by 
all  means  seek  the  restoration  to  Ireland  of  our  domes- 
tic Parliament,  upon  the  basis  of  the  resolutions  passed 
at  the  National  Conference  last  November,  and  the 
priuciples  of  the  Home  Rule  League,  of  which  I  am  a 
member. 

"If  elected  to  Parliament  I  will  give  my  cordial  ad- 
herence to  the  resolutions  adopted  at  the  recent  con- 
ference of  Irish  members,  and  will  act  independently 
alike  of  all  English  parties. 

"  I  will  earnestly  endeavor  to  obtain  for  Ireland  a 
sj-stem  of  education  in  all  its  branches  —  university, 
intermediate,  and  primary  —  which  will  deal -impar- 
tially with  all  religious  denominations,  by  affording  to 
every  parent  the  opportunity  of  obtaining  for  bis 
child  an  education  combined  with  that  religious  teach- 
ing of  which  his  conscience  approves. 

"  I  believe  security  for  his  tenure,  and  the  fruits  of 
his  industry,  to  be  equall}-  necessary  to  do  justice  to 
the  tenant  and  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  whole 
community.  I  will,  therefore,  support  such  an  extcn- 


76  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

sion  of  the  ancient  and  historic  tenant-right  of  Ulster, 
in  all  its  integrity,  to  the  other  parts  of  Ireland,  scs 
will  secure  to  the  tenant  continuous  occupation  at  fair 
rents." 

In  addition  he  promised  to  work  for  "  a  com- 
plete and  unconditional  amnesty;"  and,  after  a 
graceful  reference  to  the  efforts  made  by  his  rela- 
tives, Sir  John  and  Sir  Henry,  for  the  good  of  the 
Irish  people,  he  concluded  : — 

"•  If  you  elect  me  I  will  endeavor,  and  think  I  can 
promise,  that  no  act  of  mine  will  ever  discredit  the 
name  which  has  been  associated  with  these  recollec- 
tions." 

No  need  to  ask  now  whether  any  act  of  his  has 
since  discredited  that  name.  Has  he  fulfilled 
both  in  letter  and  spirit  those  early  pledges  given 
when  a  young  untried  man  ?  Has  he  sought  the 
restoration  of  our  domestic  Parliament  "  by  all 
means"?  Has  he  acted  " independently  alike  of 
all  English  parties"?  Has  he  been  idle  in  refer- 
ence to  the  land  question  ?  Was  he  "behind  the 
door"  in  regard  to  the  amnesty?  Has  he  neg- 
lected the  cause  of  religious  equality  in  educa- 
tion? Most  of  our  readers  remember  enough  of 
the  political  life  of  the  last  five  years  to  give  to 
all  of  these  questions  such  answers  as  could  not 
fail  to  be  complimentary  to  Mr.  Charles  Stewart 
Paruell.  Yet  in  the  rush  and  hurry  of  the  time 
people  forget  many  things  which  are  worth  recol- 


C.    S.    PABNELL,    M.  P.  77 

lection ;  and  we  purpose  in  this  narrative  to 
recall  several  such  things  to  their  memories  — 
events  of  deep  interest  and  great  importance  to 
the  Irish  nation. 

After  the  Dublin  election  nothing  was  heard  by 
the  public  of  Mr.  Parnell  till  John  Mitchel  came 
over  from  America,  after  his  long  exile,  to  beard 
the  British  lion  in  his  den  by  seeking  the  repre- 
sentation of  Tipperary  County.  Two  circum- 
stances in  connection  with  that  event  roused 
Charles  Parnell  to  active  sympathy  on  the  rebel 
candidate's  behalf.  One  was  the  opportunity 
given  of  striking  a  resounding  blow  against  Brit- 
ish domination  in  Ireland ;  the  other  was  the  in- 
domitable, unconquerable  spirit  of  Mitchel  himself, 
so  near  akin  to  Mr.  ParnelPs  own.  On  this  occa- 
sion he  emerged  from  the  privacy  into  which  he 
had  retired  after  the  Dublin  County  election,  in 
an  admirably  written  letter  to  the  papers,  an- 
nouncing his  hearty  approbation  of  Mitchel's 
course,  and  giving  £'25  towards  the  expenses  of 
the  contest  which  Mr.  Stephen  Moore  of  Barna 
forced  on  "the  premier  county." 

Tipperary  put  Mitchel  at  the  head  of  the  poll  by 
au  immense  majority,  but  he  died,  alas!  in  the 
arms  of  victory.  At  his  funeral  his  brother-in- 
law,  political  colleague,  and  fellow-convict,  John 
Martin,  was  seized  with  a  mortal  illness,  and 
within  a  week  followed  him  to  the  grave.  John 
Martin's  death  took  place  the  29th  of  March,  1875. 


78  C.    8.    PARNELL,  M.  P. 

Ireland  was  stricken  with  sorrow ;  but  Meath 
County  bewailed  a  special  loss,  for  in  gentle  John 
Martin  she  had  had  a  representative  as  honest  and 
earnest,  as  upright  and  firm,  as  ever  championed 
the  cause  of  "Ireland  a  nation"  in  the  London 
House  of  Commons.  To  find  a  fitting  successor 
for  such  a  man  was  no  easy  task ;  but  by  a  happy 
stroke  of  fortune  Charles  Stewart  Parnell,  having 
been  recommended  by  the  council  of  the  Home 
Rule  League,  was  adopted  as  the  popular  candi- 
date by  a  large  representative  meeting  of  the 
electorate.  Another  Home  Ruler,  a  solicitor  of 
much  local  influence,  opposed  him  ;  and  a  Tory 
gentleman  of  the  county,  beholding  a  prospect  of 
division  in  the  national  ranks,  and  fancying  that 
he  might  be  able  to  slip  into  the  seat  through  the 
split,  also  took  the  field.  When,  on  the  19th  of 
April,  1875,  the  votes  having  been  counted,  the 
declaration  of  the  poll  was  made,  it  was  found 
that  the  numbers  were  —  Charles  Stewart  Parnell, 
Home  Ruler,  1,771 ;  J.  L.  Naper,  Tory,  902  ;  J. 
T.  Hinds,  Home  Ruler,  138  ;  from  which  figures 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  mass  of  the  electors  refused 
to  play  the  game  of  the  common  enemy  by  fight- 
ing among  themselves. 

There  was  tremendous  rejoicing  in  Royal  Meath 
over  the  victory.  Enthusiastic  crowds  assembled 
in  thousands  to  give  vent  to  a  common  feeling  of 
delight ;  bonfires  blazed  in  many  quarters ;  and 
the  populace  of  Trim,  in  which  town  the  declara- 


C.    S.    PAENELL,  M.  P.  79 

tion  of  the  poll  had  been  made,  having  discovered 
Mr.  Parnell  walking  down  from  the  parochial 
house  to  his  hotel,  laid  lovingly  violent  hands  on 
him,  carried  him  in  triumph  round  their  own 
special  bonfire  in  the  market  square,  and  finally 
set  him  standing  on  the  head  of  a  cask  to  speak  a 
few  words  to  them.  To  those  acquainted  with 
the  Irish  nature  it  is  unnecessarj7  to  say  that  no 
such  wild  familiarity  would  have  been  taken  with 
him  if  during  the  course  of  his  canvass  he  had 
not  become  a  popular  favorite. 

Mr.  Parnell  did  not  delay  to  receive  congratu- 
lations on  his  success.  Parliament  was  in  session 
at  the  period  of  his  election,  and,  moreover,  the 
Government  had  just  then  in  hands  a  Coercion 
Bill  for  Ireland.  Mr.  Joseph  Gillis  Biggar  had 
determined  that  this  proposed  tyrannical  enact- 
ment should  be  met  with  a  stiff  resistance. 
Therefore  the  new  member  for  Meath,  who 
meant  work,  not  pleasure,  hurried  over  to  Lon- 
don, formally  took  his  seat,  and  was  in  good 
time  to  record  his  first  vote  against  the  Coercion 
Bill  on  the  22d  of  April,  1875.  As  he  was  in 
Trim  on  the  night  of  the  19th,  it  is  plain  that  he 
"did  not  let  the  grass  grow  under  his  feet,"  to 
use  an  expressive  Irish  phrase. 

The  struggle  over  the  Coercion  Bill  was  stout 
and  prolonged.  Mr.  Biggar  began  it  with  the 
famous  four  hours'  speech  which  drove  the  as- 
sembled Commons  at  Westminster  into  alternate 


80  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

flushes  of  rage  and  despair.  That  struggle  was 
the  first  taste  they  had  got  of  what  has  since  been 
called  "Obstruction"  —  a  word  which  merely  ex- 
presses briefly  that  it  is  within  the  power  of  even 
a  few  resolute  Irish  members  of  Parliament  to 
prevent  any  administration  from  having  every- 
thing its  own  way.  That  struggle  further  showed 
that  even  a  score  of  resolute  Irish  members  could 
at  least  prevent  anything  approaching  to  bad 
measures  for  their  country.  It  remained  for  Mr. 
Paruell  afterwards  to  prove  that  good  measures 
could  also  be  obtained  by  a  continued  pursuance 
of  the  same  method. 

Only  on  the  llth  of  April  did  the  bill  get 
through  the  House  of  Commons,  after  a  consump- 
tion of  Government  time  which  caused  in  Great 
Britain  a  feeling  of  positive  dismay.  There  were, 
of  course,  a  large  number  of  divisions  over  the 
various  amendments  proposed ;  and  it  is  to  be  re- 
corded to  the  credit  of  Charles  Stewart  Parnell 
that,  even  at  the  very  outset  of  his  Parliamentary 
career,  he  was  present  and  took  the  Irish  side,  in 
every  one  of  those  divisions.  Others  there  were 
of  his  colleagues,  much  more  advanced  in  years, 
infinitely  better  known  to  the  public,  and  posses- 
sing the  full  confidence  of  too  confiding  constitu- 
encies, who  were  absent  again  and  again  with  no 
better  cause  than  a  desire  to  take  their  pleasure  in 
London  drawing-rooms.  But  he  stood  up  to  his 
work  with  a  diligence  from  which  they  might  have 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  81 

taken  example.  The  rest  of  the  session  passed 
over  without  anything  remarkable  being  done  by 
"the  Irish  party"  in  Parliament;  and  during  that 
period  Mr.  Paruell  was  by  far  more  constant  in 
his  attendance  than  the  majority  of  his  fellow- 
members.  He  did  not  address  the  House ;  but 
employed  himself  much  in  mastering  its  cum- 
brous and  intricate  forms  and  the  rules  which 
guide  its  course  of  procedure. 

Now  there  was  a  representative  of  Cork  city, 
who,  having  been  a  hot  revolutionist  in  '48,  had 
taken  refuge  under  the  stars  and  stripes,  and 
dwelt  in  America  for  many  years,  in  the  practice 
of  his  profession  of  civil  engineer.  Having 
amassed  a  fortune,  he  returned  to  his  native  land, 
and  set  up  his  habitation  on  the  banks  of  the 
beautiful  Lee.  He  had  profited  by  contact  with 
the  shrewd  American  mind  ;  and  when  he  had  ob- 
served the  London  Commons  for  some  time  he 
came  to  a  conclusion  which  he  expressed  in  pretty 
much  the  following  fashion  :  — 

"  You  will  never  get  them  to  listen  to  you  until  you 
begin  to  take  as  active  an  interest  in  English  affairs 
as  they  take  in  Irish  ones.  I  am  too  old  to  have  the 
necessary  energ}*  for  the  work.  Why  don't  some  of 
you  young  fellows  try  it  ?  " 

The  man  who  said  this  was  generally  spoken 
of  with  affectionate  familiarity  as  "Honest  Joe 
Ronayne."  Peace  to  his  ashes  !  He  died  in  the 


82  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

Spring  of  1876.  He  loved  Ireland  well,  and 
served  her  well  too,  and  will  be  long  borne  in 
her  grateful  memory. 

Charles  Paruell  heard  the  saying,  and  pondered 
deeply  on  it.  The  more  he  thought  of  it  the 
more  it  appeared  like  a  revelation ;  until  at 
length  he  determined  that,  since  the  practised 
speakers  among  the  Irish  members  seemed  to 
shrink  from  the  labor  involved,  he  himself  would 
test  the  wisdom  of  Joe  Ronayne's  dictum.  With 
this  view  he  set  himself  to  looking  out  for  some 
Government  measure  in  which  he  could  take  a 
tremendous  interest.  He  eventually  chose  the 
English  Prisons  Bill,  which  proposed  to  hand 
over  the  management  of  local  prisons  to  the  ex- 
ecutive ;  and  he  made  the  selection  with  a  view 
to  first  modifying  it  to  his  desires,  and  afterwards 
insisting  that  the  Irish  Prisons  Bill  which  was  to 
follow  should  be  modelled  on  the  precedent  thus 
afforded.  For  it  occurred  to  Mr.  Parnell  that 
the  time  of  political  prosecutions  in  Ireland  had 
not  yet  passed  away,  and  that  it  would  be  wise 
to  prepare  for  occurrences  of  the  kind,  to  the 
extent  at  least  of  saving  those  convicted  of  sedi- 
tion from  the  indignities  and  maltreatment  to 
which  theretofore  they  had  been  invariably  sub- 
jected in  Irish  jails. 

We  have  previously  intimated  that  Mr.  Parnell 
had  little  or  no  experience  in  public  speaking. 
From  native  modesty,  or  a  diffidence  in  his  own 


0.   8.   PArtNELL,  M.  P.  g3 

powers,  he  shrank  from  obtruding  himself  on 
audiences  accustomed  to  being  addressed  by  ora- 
tors, rhetoricians,  and  practised  debaters.  But 
to  cany  out  the  scheme  of  tactics  which  was 
slowly  maturing  in  his  mind  it  was  absolutely 
needful  to  gain  such  experience  ;  and  to  the  task 
he  began  to  set  himself  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Parliamentary  sessio'n  of  1876.  The  strength  of 
his  purpose  impelled  him  to  surmount  every  ob- 
stacle that  lay  in  his  path ;  so  he  made  use  of  the 
House  of  Commons  as  a  debating  society  in  which 
he  might  acquire  ease  and  fluency  of  public  ad- 
dress. 

The  first  opportunity  of  which  he  took  advan- 
tage was  of  a  kincl  peculiarly  grateful  to  him.  It 
was  supplied  by  the  very  first  of  the  resolute 
struggles  to  which  some  members  of  the  Irish 
Parliamentary  party  have  since  very  often  treated 
the  assembled  Commons  of  Westminster,  and 
which  have  received  from  the  newspapers  the  ex- 
pressive designation  "  scenes  in  the  House." 

The  "scene"  to  which  reference  is  now  made 
arose  in  this  way.  Early  in  each  session  the 
Commons  elect  members  to  sit  on  various  com- 
mittees having  certain  duties  to  discharge  in  con- 
nection with  the  business  of  the  House.  The 
Whig  and  Tory  party  leaders  usually  agreed 
beforehand  on  a  list  of  members  for  each  commit- 
tee, taken  impartially  from  the  ranks  of  both 
parties  in  fair  proportion  to  their  respective 


84  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

numbers  ;  with  the  result  that  when  the  elections 
came  on  each  name  was  passed  simply  as  a  matter 
of  course  —  such  a  thing  as  taking  a  division 
against  any  one  being  almost  unheard  of.  The 
formation  of  a  third  party — the  Home  Rule  one 
—  disturbed  the  little  arrangement  mentioned; 
and  at  the  beginning  of  1876  both  Whigs  and 
Tories  combined  totally  to  ignore  the  existence  of 
that  third  party  by  drawing  no  members  of  com- 
mittees from  its  ranks.  Some  of  the  Irish  repre- 
sentatives made  up  their  minds  to  resent  this 
grossly  unfair  course  of  the  English  party  mana- 
gers by  indiscriminately  challenging  every  name 
put  up  for  election. 

Late  on  the  night  of  Monday,  the  6th  of  March, 
there  being  at  the  time  but  six  members  of  the 
Irish  party  present  —  of  whom,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, the  ever-diligent  Charles  Stewart  Parnell 
was  one  —  a  motion  was  made  "That  the  select 
committee  on  referees  on  private  bills  do  consist 
of  twenty-one  members."  Absurdly  few  as  were 
the  Home  Rulers  on  the  spot,  they  determined  to 
fight  the  matter  out  with  resolution,  and  to  teach 
the  Whig  and  Tory  conspirators  a  lesson  they 
would  not  soon  forget.  Mr.  A.  M.  Sullivan 
promptly  rose  to  his  feet,  and  moved  that  the 
number  of  the  committee  should  be  twenty-three 
instead  of  twenty-one,  with  the  object  of  adding 
on  two  of  his  own  party.  The  gage  of  battle 
thus  thrown  down  was  quickly  taken  up  by  the 


C.    S.    PAENELL,    M.  P.  85 

overwhelming  majority  furnished  from  ihe  ranks 
of  the  two  British  parties,  united  for  the  occasion, 
as  usual,  in  doing  an  injustice  to  the  Irish.  They 
won  in  the  division  of  course,  although  on  the 
Irish  side  there  voted  several  fair-minded  English- 
men—  there  are  fair-minded  Englishmen  even  in 
the  London  House  of  Commons  —  whose  aid 
brought  the  Irish  muster  up  to  twenty-one. 

Immediately  "  the  scene  "  began.  Every  name 
put  up  was  challenged  in  turn,  and  a  division 
taken  on  it.  What  that  meant,  and  how  great  was 
the  loss  of  time  it  involved,  will  be  understood 
when  we  say  that  previous  to  each  division  two 
minutes  are  allowed  before  the  closing  of  the  en- 
trance door  of  the  House,  to  allow  of  members 
rushing  in  from  the  bar,  the  dining-room,  the 
smoke-room,  the  library,  and  so  forth,  to  take 
part  hi  the  division,  although  they  may  not  havo 
the  faintest  idea  of  what  it  is  about.  The  mem- 
bers are  warned  of  each  division  by  the  ringing  of 
bells  set  up  for  the  purpose.  When  the  door  is 
closed,  the  Commons  file  slowly  into  two  great 
corridors  known  as  "the  division  lobbies,"  one  de- 
voted to  the  "ayes"  and  the  other  to  the  "noes." 
In  the  entrance  to  these  lobbies  stand  the  re- 
spective "tellers,"  who  stop  each  member  as  he 
passes,  and  take  down  his  name.  When  the  names 
are  all  entered,  they  are  very  carefully  counted, 
all  return  to  the  chamber  where  sits  Mr.  Speaker, 
and  the  numbers  for  and  against  are  announced. 


86  C.    S.   PARNELL,   M.  P. 

There  is  usually  some  cheering  after  each  an- 
nouncement ;  and  when  that  is  over  the  House 
proceeds  again  to  business.  Each  division  ordi- 
narily takes  about  fifteen  minutes. 

From  the  above  it  will  easily  be  seen  that  if 
a  number  of  divisions  be  taken  in  a  night,  not 
only  is  "the  time  of  the  House"  consumed  but  a 
good  deal  of  enforced  pedestrianism  falls  to  the 
lot  of  members,  many  of  whom  from  one  cause 
or  other  may  not  be  very  well  able  to  walk,  es- 
pecially in  the  small  hours  of  the  morning.  And 
it  was  precisely  to  such  consumption  of  time  and 
such  enforced  pedestrianism  the  resolute  Irish  six 
condemned  their  unscrupulous  Whig  and  .Tory 
opponents.  Naturally  these  latter  became  an- 
noyed under  the  punishment  they  were  receiv- 
ing, and  a  good  deal  of  temper  was  displayed. 
It  is  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  short  but  warm 
discussions  of  the  night  that  we  find  the  first 
record  of  Mr.  Parnell  addressing  his  fellow  Com- 
moners. The  hour  was  one  at  which  Parliament- 
ary reporters  do  not  trouble  themselves  to  take 
down  the  sayings  of  members  in  full,  therefore 
the  record  is  extremely  brief;  but  one  phrase  of 
it  is  so  characteristic  of  Mr.  Parnell  that  there  is 
hardly  room  for  doubt  that  it  was  reported  in  the 
exact  words  which  fell  from  his  lips.  The  report 
goes : — 

"  Mr.  Parnell  said  they  had  deliberately  adopted 
this  course,  and  they  would  stick  to  it." 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  87 

Significant  words  indeed,  if  his  hearers  but 
knew  their  full  meaning  when  coming  from  him. 
And  stick  to  it  he  did.  Respect  for  not  a  name 
on  the  list  was  shown.  Division  followed  di- 
vision with  a  regularity  beyond  all  praise.  The 
weary  Britishers  walked  in  and  out  of  their  lobby 
muttering  execrations  on  the  heads  of  those  ob- 
stinate Irish  who  still  kept  up  the  battle,  and 
would  not  acknowledge  themselves  vanquished. 
The  counting  of  British  noses  was  a  toilsome 
process,  there  were  so  many  of  them.  On  the 
Irish  side  the  counting  was  easy  indeed,  for  their 
English  allies  fell  away  after  the  first  division, 
and  the  Home  Rule  tellers  had  only  five  names  to 
put  down ;  after  the  twelfth  the  number  fell  to 
three. 

A  compromise  was  suggested  ;  but  the  Brit- 
ishers, who  would  have  been  glad  to  agree  to  it 
an  hour  earlier,  were  now  thoroughly  irate  ;  in 
defiance  of  Dr.  Watts,  they  had  "let  their  angry 
passions  rise  ;  "  and  with  their  tremendous  major- 
ity they  were  resolved  not  to  give  way  an  inch. 
Appeals  were  made  to  the  Irish  to  cease  a  hope- 
less struggle ;  and  then,  we  read  in  the  report:  — 

"  Mr.  Parnell  said  the  compromise  had  been  re- 
fused, and  the  fight  should  go  on." 

And  on  it  went  steadily  ;  the  Irish  cool  but  de- 
termined, the  Britishers  wild  with  rage,  and  now 
and  again  giving  angry  vent  to  their  excited  feel- 
ings. The  gallant  Major  O'Gorman  led  his  di- 


88  C.    S.    PAENELL,    M.  P. 

vision  of  three  into  the  lobby,  having  called  on 
the  honorable  member  for  Meath  to  be  his  co-teller. 
The  honorable  member  for  Meath  gladly  obliged  his 
honorable  and  gallant  friend.  The  thirteenth  divi- 
sion was  taken,  and  still  the  fight  was  not  at  an  end. 
The  fourteenth  followed,  and  then  the  fifteenth  ; 
and  when,  at  a  quarter  past  four  in  the  morning, 
the  result  of  the  sixteenth  was  announced,  the  an- 
griest Whig  or  Tory  of  them  all  had  been  brought 
to  his  senses.  Though  the  names  proposed  were 
every  one  carried,  and  in  that  sense  the  Britishers 
might  congratulate  themselves  on  winning  several 
petty  successes,  yet  the  end  for  which  the  few  Irish 
struggled  was  achieved — the  exclusion  of  mem- 
bers of  their  party  had  to  be  given  up  —  the  at- 
tempt to  ignore  the  existence  of  a  distinct  third 
party  in  the  House  was  defeated — and  in  that 
sense,  the  true  one,  victory  was  with  the  Irish, 
their  operations  had  been  successful,  and  they  had 
conquered  all  along  the  line. 

It  was  during  this  session  of  1876  that  Mr. 
Parnell  began  to  cultivate  that  devotion  to  the 
Governmental  estimates  for  which  he  afterwards 
became  so  distinguished.  There  were  many  "great 
debates  "  got  up  that  year  by  the  Home  Kule  party 
—  field-day  displays  which  gave  the  do-nothings 
an  opportunity  of  posing  before  their  oonstituents 
as  zealous  servants,  through  the  easy  means  of 
letting  off  in  the  House  elaborate  speeches  to  which 
no  one  paid  any  attention  during  their  deliverance, 


C.    S.    PAKNELL,   M.  P.  89 

but  which  were  pretty  certain  to  find  their  way 
into  the  columns  of  the  Irish  press,  and  to  receive 
therein  an  amount  of  space  which  gave  them  a 
solid,  substantial,  responsible  look,  calculated  to 
impress  the  minds  of  admiring  but  extremely 
simple  electors  to  the  West  of  St.  George's  Chan- 
nel. Of  course  we  are  not  to  be  understood  as 
attributing  no  value  whatever  to  such  debates. 
On  the  contrary,  they  have  their  use,  and  are  in- 
deed at  times  necessary.  But  if  there  ends  the 
work  of  Irish  members  in  the  English  Parliament 
the  advantage  of  the  field-days  is  small  indeed. 
Mr.  Parnell  allowed  any  one  who  chose  to  take  a 
prominent  part  in  those  displays.  For  himself  he 
did  not  care  for  them.  He  saw  that  hypocrites 
systematically  made  use  of  them  for  the  purpose 
of  throwing  dust  in  the  eyes  of  their  constit- 
uencies, so  he  merely  closed  his  lips  more  tightly, 
and  waited  with  what  patience  he  might  for  the 
crushing  defeat  sure  to  follow  on  the  division  — 
for  which,  however,  he  took  care  to  be  on  hand. 
But  he  did  active  work  when  the  House  went  into 
committee,  and  contrived  to  make  himself,  by  sheer 
practice,  an  excellent  debater.  And  when  he  felt 
the  needful  confidence  in  himself  he  proposed  on 
his  own  responsibility  a  motion  in  favor  of  the 
political  prisoners,  which  he  supported  in  a  telling 
speech,  powerful  not  only  in  argument  but  in  the 
unusual  boldness  of  the  tone  which  struck  the 
ears  of  the  British  Commons.  The  date  of  this 


90  C.    S.    PAENELL,   M.  P. 

effort  to  redeem  the  pledge  regarding  amnesty, 
given  in  his  earliest  address  as  a  Parliamentary 
candidate,  was  the  22nd  of  May,  1876. 

In  his  speech  on  this  occasion  —  which  may  be 
regarded  as  his  first  sustained  effort  at  speech- 
making —  he  made  such  references  to  the  trials 
consequent  on  the  rescue  of  Kelly  and  Deasy  from 
the  police  van  at  Manchester  as  startled  most  of 
his  hearers.  One  of  them,  Sir  Michael  Hicks- 
Beach,  then  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  bore  Mr. 
Parnell's  remarks  bitterly  in  mind  ;  and  when ,  in 
the  Home  Rule  debate  on  the  30th  June,  the  tor- 
pid English  baronet  rose  to  speak  against  the  Irish 
claim,  he  lugged  in  by  the  horns,  as  it  were,  a 
direct  allusion  to  what  Mr.  Parnell  had  said  on  the 
22nd  of  May  previously.  This  proceeding  of  Sec- 
retary Beach  was  a  distinct  breach  of  a  rule  of  the 
London  House  of  Commons  which  prohibits  mem- 
bers from  referring  to  any  previous  debate  of  the 
same  session  ;  yet,  singular  to  relate,  he  was  not 
called  to  order  by  any  authority  of  the  assembly. 
However,  Sir  Michael  of  the  retentive  memory 
but  little  knew  at  that  time  the  kind  of  man  whom 
he  had  singled  out  for  a  thrust.  He,  as  well  as 
every  one  of  his  colleagues,  is  better  informed  by 
now,  and  none,  we  fancy,  would  go  out  of  his 
way  to  assail  the  honorable  member  for  Meath. 
Even  at  that  time  the  baronet  was  not  allowed 
to  remain  long  undeceived  ;  for  Mr.  Parnell  rose 


C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P.  91 

to  his  feet  on  the  instant,  interrupted  Sir  Michael, 
and  calmly  retorted  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  right  honorable  gentleman  looked  at  me  so 
directly  when  he  said  he  regretted  that  any  member  of 
this  House  should  apologize  for  murder,  that  I  wish  to 
say,  as  publicly  and  directly  as  I  can,  that  I  do  not 
believe,  and  never  shall,  that  any  murder  .was  com- 
mitted at  Manchester." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  it  was  the  fate  of  the 
Manchester  Three  which  first  set  Mr.  Parnell 
thinking  seriously  of  Ireland  and  her  unhappy 
destinies ;  and  at  no  time  since  has  he  been  pre- 
pared to  listen  silently  to  any  defamation  concern- 
ing them.  The  imprudent  Secretary,  on  hearing 
the  observation  quoted  above,  seemed  for  a  while 
like  one  who  had  received  a  good  box  on  the  ear ; 
he  stammered  out  a  Parliamentary  paraphrase  of 
"  I  didn't  know  you'd  take  it  that  way,  I'm  sure  ;" 
and  then,  carefully,  avoiding  any  further  allusion 
to  either  the  Manchester  cases  or  the  honorable 
member  for  Meath,  addressed  himself  to  his  sub- 
ject proper. 

One  other  feature  of  Mr.  ParneU's  conduct  dur- 
ino-  this  session  of  1876  deserves  notice  here.  He 

O 

attended  strictly  to  party  discipline.  Whenever 
there  were  meetings  of  the  Irish  party  he  was 
present ;  whatever  the  decision  arrived  at  by  the 
majority  he  helped  to  carry  it  out.  Nay,  on 
occasions  —  and  there  was  at  least  one  —  when 
Mr.  Butt  earnestly  wished  his  followers  to  abstain 


92  C.    S.    PAKNELL,    M.  P. 

altogether  from  voting  on  Imperial  questions,  so 
as  to  preserve  intact  the  individuality  of  the  party, 
and  to  exhibit  its  strength  conspicuously  to  both 
Whigs  and  Tories  ;  and  when  men  like  MacCarthy, 
Downing  and  Major  O'Gorman  obstinately  refused 
to  be  led  by  their  leader,  and  insisted  on  their 
right  to  vote  with  the  English  party  of  their 
choice  ;  Mr.  Parnell  was  one  of  the  small  faithful 
baud  who  followed  Mr.  Butt  in  a  body  out  of  the 
chamber  when  the  bells  for  the  division  were  set 
a-ringing  ;  as,  for  instance,  after  the  debate  on  the 
proclamation  giving  to  Queen  Victoria  the  title  of 
Empress  of  India  —  a  debate  which  came  off  on 
the  llth  of  May,  1876. 

Yet  at  the  very  time  that  Mr.  Parnell,  for  the 
sake  of  union,  submitted  so  willingly  to  the  bonds 
of  party  discipline,  and  obeyed  with  such  alacrity 
the  wishes  expressed  by  the  party  leader,  he  was 
conscious  that  all  was  not  well  in  that  organiza- 
tion, and  he  had  already  begun  a  kind  of  guerilla 
warfare  against  the  House  of  Commons,  in  con- 
junction with  his  stanch  friend  and  ally,  sturdy 
Joseph  Biggar,  one  of  the  members  for  Cavan. 
He  was  also  projecting  a  sterner  struggle  for  the 
next  session.  He  had  mastered  the  "  rules  of  the 
House ;"  he  had  had  practice  in  debate,  both  in 
Parliament  and  in  the  consulting  rooms  of  the 
Irish  party  ;  his  diffidence  had  been  torn  away  in 
the  conflicts  wherein  he  had  engaged  ;  self-con- 
sciousness had  been  driven  off,  and  in  its  stead 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  93 

there  remained  only  the  rapidly  growing  power  of 
his  unflinching  purpose.  His  laborious  attend- 
ance in  Parliament  for  several  consecutive  months 
compelled  a  brief  rest  for  a  couple  of  weeks  in 
June  ;  but  he  was  back  in  his  place  in  time  for  the 
Land  Bill  and  for  the  Home  Rule  debate  in  which 
he  so  bewildered  Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach  to- 
wards the  end  of  that  month. 

So  far  he  was  comparatively  unknown  to  the 
general  Irish  public  ;  but  keen  observers  of  politi- 
cal events  had  noted  his  course  ;  and  when,  in  the 
August  of  1876,  the  Home  Rule  Confederation  of 
Great  Britain,  to  test  the  practical  value  of  the 
Irish  Convention  Act,  since  repealed,  determined 
to  hold  their  annual  convention  in  Dublin,  it 
was  Mr.  Charles  Stewart  Parnell  who  was  put 
into  the  second  chair  at  their  public  meeting 
in  the  evening,  when  the  vote  of  thanks  was  pro- 
posed to  Isaac  Butt  for  presiding,  although  there 
were  several  other  members  of  Parliament  present, 
whose  age  and  acknowledged  standing  in  the 
political  world  were  much  beyond  Mr.  ParnelFs. 

During  the  Winter  of  1866-7  he  reflected  much 
on  Joe  Ronaync's  pithy  saying,  and  gradually  im- 
proved his  plan  of  operations  against  the  anti- 
Irish  majority  in  the  London  House  of  Commons. 
While  still  adhering  to  his  intention  to  take  an 
active  interest  in  purely  English  affairs,  he  saw 
his  way  also  to  working  successfully  for  the  bene- 
fit of  Irish  ones.  Since  the  formation  of  the  Irish 


94  0.    8.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

party  a  sessional  "  rule  of  the  House "  had  been 
framed  to  prevent  measures  from  going  forward  a 
stage  after  half-past  twelve  at  night  if  notice  of 
opposition  of  any  kind  had  been  formally  given. 
It  seemed  to  be  a  most  innocent  rule  —  a  rule  de- 
vised to  let  members  go  off  home  to  bed  at  some 
approach  to  reputable  hours  —  a  rule,  in  fact, 
with  which  no  respectable  man,  be  he  member  of 
Parliament  or  not,  could  quarrel.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  however,  it  was  employed  to  stay  the  passage 
of  the  various  bills  brought  in  by  the  Irish  party ; 
notice  of  opposition  having  been  promptly  given 
to  every  one  of  them,  while  other  bills  of  all  kinds 
remained  unopposed.  The  rule  had  been  found 
to  work  so  well  in  the  way  intended  that  it  was 
again  triumphantly  passed  at  the  opening  of  the 
session  of  1877.  Forthwith  Mr.  Parnell  and  Mr. 
Biggar  indiscriminately  gave  formal  notice  of  op- 
position to  a  score  of  English  and  Imperial  bills, 
by  which  simple  tactical  proceeding  they  brought 
them  all  under  the  operation  of  the  half-past 
twelve  rule,  and  so  checkmated  the  wily  British 
schemers.  The  cry  of  "  obstruction  "  was  at  once 
raised  by  those  injured  innocents ;  vague  but 
dreadful  punishments  on  the  offending  pair  were 
darkly  menaced  in  the  British  prints ;  cold  looks 
from  the  majority  of  their  own  colleagues,  and 
angry  ones  from  the  great  mass  of  British  mem- 
bers, met  Messrs.  Parnell  and  Biggar  for  their 
spirited  but  most  natural  action ;  everything  was 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  95 

clone  by  friend  and  foe  alike  to  make  their  posi- 
tion most  unpleasant ;  yet,  though  they  did  not 
revel,  as  Mark  Tapley  might  have  done,  in  the 
annoyances  that  incessantly  met  them — indeed, 
if  the  plain  truth  is  to  be  told,  they  felt  the  bolts 
keenly  enough  when  shot  by  their  own  colleagues 
—they  held  persistently  in  the  course  on  which 
they  had  entered,  and  dug  a  deep  grave  for  that 
"rule  of  the  House"  which  had  been  so  craftily 
utilized  to  hamper  the  bills  brought  in  by  the 
Irish  party. 

It  is  quite  possible  —  nay,  even  probable  —  that 
there  are  many  people  who  believe  that  Mr.  Par- 
nell's  zeal  in  the  cause  of  Irish  peasant-proprietor- 
ship is  a  new  thing  —  that  the  idea  is  one  he 
suddenly  adopted  merely  to  gain  access  of  popu- 
larity—  that,  in  short,  he  had  no  real  conviction 
on  the  question  when  early  in  1879  he  began  to  ad- 
vocate it  so  strenuously.  Well,  to  such  doubters 
of  his  good  faith  in  the  matter  we  commend  the 
fact  that  on  the  14th  of  February,  1877,  he  urged 
the  British  House  of  Commons  to  assent  to  the 
second  reading  of  a  bill  whose  provisions  were 
wholly  directed  towards  making  more  easy  the 
conversion  of  tenant-farmers  into  peasant-pro- 
prietors. The  title  of  the  bill  was  "The  Iii.^h 
Church  Act  Amendment  Bill ;  "  and  its  sole  object 
was  to  amend  the  Church  Disestablishment  Act 
in  such  a  way  that  those  tenants  who  held  the 
glebe  lauds  should  have  much  greater  facilities 


96  C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P. 

and  inducements  for  becoming  owners  than  the 
Act  originally  afforded.  His  able  statement  con- 
verted a  great  many  British  members  to  his  views. 
In  the  division  110  followed  him  into  the  lobby, 
of  whom  but  39  were  his  party  colleagues.  Only 
150  in  all  voted  against  his  bill.  Though  he  did 
not  win  a  complete  victory  over  British  prejudice, 
he  helped  very  materially  to  bring  the  principle  of 
Irish  peasant-proprietorship  to  the  front ;  and  in 
any  case  he  then  put  beyond  question  the  good 
faith  of  his  subsequent  advocacy  of  that  solution 
of  the  Irish  land  problem. 

Before  reverting  to  Mr.  Parnell's  Parliamentary 
career  in  1877 — which  was  a  most  notable  one 
indeed  — we  must  refer,  however  briefly,  to  a  very 
interesting  event  in  which  he  figured  prominently, 
and  which  could  not  but  have  had  some  effect,  not 
only  on  the  results  of  his  American  mission  in 
1879,  but  also  in  deepening  and  widening  the 
kindly  relations  between  Ireland  and  the  United 
States.  In  the  Autumn  of  1876  the  project  was 
mooted  of  sending  from  the  Irish. people  a  con- 
gratulatory address  to  the  States  on  the  centenary 
of  their  independence.  It  was  known  in  Ireland 
that  the  people  of  the  Union  meant  to  celebrate 
that  glorious  hundredth  anniversary  with  unpar- 
alleled displays  of  public  rejoicing;  and  with 
those  rejoicings  the  Irish,  so  long  suffering  from 
the  loss  of  their  own  independence,  could  more 
than  any  other  people  in  Europe  keenly  syrnpa- 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  97 

thizc.  It  was  resolved  to  put  that  sympathy  in 
evidence  in  a  form  that  would  endure.  No  sooner 
was  the  project  mooted  in  the  press  than  its  pro- 
motors  found  it  so  warmly.and  widely  taken  up 
that  they  conceived  they  hud  absolutely  national 
sanction  for  the  undertaking.  An  enormous 
mass  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  the  Irish  me- 
tropolis adopted  the  address  "  from  the  Irish 
nation,"  which  was  inscribed  to  President  Grant 
as  the  chief  representative  of  the  Union.  Messrs. 
Parnell  and  O'Connor  Power  were  deputed  as  the 
bearers  of  this  historical  document,  which  was 
richly  illuminated  on  parchment  and  splendidly 
framed. 

The  two  gentlemen  proceeded  on  their  mission 
towards  the  close  of  1876.  Arrived  at  their  des- 
tination they  found  themselves  confronted  by 
obstacles  which  hindered  them  from  fulfilling  the 
trust  confided  to  them.  President  Grant  declined 
to  receive  the  address  from  its  bearers.  If  he 
should  accept  it  at  all  on  behalf  of  the  American 
people  it  should  come  through  the  British  am- 
bassador at  Washington.  It  was  roundly  as- 
serted at  the  time  that  the  said  ambassador  had 
himself  raised  this  difficulty  for  the  two  Irish 
envoys.  However  that  may  be,  Messrs.  Parnell 
and  Power  could  see  nothing  but  a  wild  incon- 
gruity in  presenting  through  a  British  ambassador 
an  address  congratulating  a  people  on  having 
been  fortunate  enough  to  fling  off  the  British 


98  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

yoke,  and  coming  from  a  people  who  were  them- 
selves struggling  to  get  rid  of  British  domination. 
The  President  stood  firm  in  the  position  he  had 
taken  up.  The  two  Irishmen  would  on  no  ac- 
count agree  to  the  condition  he  imposed  ;  and  to 
ordinary  observers  it  seemed  as  if  the  mission 
must  turn  out  a  conspicuous  failure. 

But  those  who  knew  something  of  Mr.  Parnell's 
energy  and  readiness  of  resource  did  not  believe 
he  would  be  so  easily  baffled  ;  nor  were  they  mis- 
taken. Cancelling  the  illuminated  parchment 
brought  from  Dublin,  he  got  another  illuminated, 
paying  for  it  from  his  own  purse ;  and  in  this 
copy  of  the  address  he  substituted  for  the  super- 
scription to  President  Grant  one  to  the  people  of 
the  States.  This  he  determined  to  have  accepted, 
if  possible,  by  the  House  of  Representatives  at 
Washington.  In  the  end  his  chnnge  of  tactics 
proved  eminently  successful ;  although,  being 
anxious  to  prove  his  new  scheme  of  policy  against 
the  tyrant  majority  in  the  British  House  of  Com- 
mons, he  recrossed  the  Atlantic  before  the  recep- 
tion of  the  address  by  Congress. 

The  session  of  1877  was  the  most  memorable 
for  extraordinary  scenes  in  British  Parliamentary 
history.  Beginning  with  the  opposition  of  Messrs. 
Parnell  and  Biggar  to  "  the  half-past  twelve  rule," 
and  concluding  with  the  famous  twenty-two  hours' 
debate  on  the  South  African  Bill,  there  occurred 
a  succession  of  unexampled  episodes,  in  every  one 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  99 

of  which  Mr.  Parnell  was  a  prominent  figure.  It 
was  from  no  love  of  notoriety  that  the  energetic 
member  for  Meath  took  such  a  conspicuous  part 
in  those  unusual  proceedings.  We  have  already 
said  that  he  knew  that  all  was  not  well  with  the 
Home  Rule  party.  The  utter  indifference  to  the 
interests  of  their  country,  displayed  by  the  majori- 
ty of  them,  was  a  perpetual  goad  to  him.  Other 
members  of  the  party  also  had  been  galled  by  that 
indifference  —  Mr.  Biggar  notably  so.  Mr.  A.  M. 
Sullivan  had  commented  on  it  in  the  press  as  deli- 
cately as  he  might,  only  with  the  effect  of  evoking 
a  tumult  against  himself  from  those  whose  con- 
sciences pointed  them  out  as  culprits.  Even  Mr. 
Butt,  although  he  totally  disapproved  of  the  new 
tactics  inaugurated  by  Messrs.  Parnell  and  Biggar, 
was  yet  most  painfully  aware  of  the  want  of  ear- 
nestness and  genuineness  of  too  many  of  his  fol- 
lowers. In  private  he  often  spoke  bitterly  about 
the  discouraging  fact ;  and  once  at  least  he  gave 
vent  to  his  feelings  in  public.  At  a  banquet  given 
to  him  in  Dublin  in  the  first  week  of  February, 
1877,  he  alluded,  in  the  course  of  a  magnificent 
speech,  to  the  remissness  of  the  majority  of  the 
party,  in  terms  which  it  must  prove  interesting  to 
the  reader  to  have  now  recalled.  He  said  : — 

"  I  hope  that  during  the  ensuing  session  we  shall 
have  a  full  attendance  of  Irish  members  —  such  an 
attendance  as  shall  enable  us  to  act  effectively  in  the 
small  hours  of  the  morning,  when  discussing  in  Parlia- 


100  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

ment  the  questions  in  which  we  are  so  interested.  It 
is  not  in  great  parades  the  battle  of  Ireland  is  to  be 
fought.  The  man  does  not  serve  Ireland  who  comes 
over  only  two  or  three  times  in  the  session.  The  cause 
is  not  served  by  such  a  man,  even  though  he  take  the 
opportunity  of  making  a  grand  speech.  Many  men 
have  done  far  wiser  in  making  no  speeches  at  all,  but 
who  have  been  always  present  at  the  hour  of  need  — 
present  at  any  hour  of  the  morning  when  their  services 
were  of  material  use  to  the  cause  of  their  country. 
Now  I  do  think  I  have  a  right  to  ask  the  attention  of 
the  Irish  people.  Give  me  whole-hearted  support  — 
give  me  whole-hearted  support  —  no  half-hearted  sup- 
port—  or  rather,  if  you  will,  infuse  into  half-hearted 
supporters  the  whole  of  your  own  support ;  and  then 
when  the  day  does  come,  when  the  struggle  is  passed, 
when  future  generations  will  pronounce  their  judgment 
on  the  part  acted  by  an  individual  so  humble  as  my- 
self—  and  believe  me  that  the  man  placed  in  the  posi- 
tion you  place  me  in  will  occupy  a  place  in  the  historic 
page  —  let  me  be  judged  fairlj-.  If  I  struggle,  let  the 
Irish  people  struggle  too,  and  then  I  will  not  be 
ashamed  or  look  with  fear  to  the  place  that  my  name 
will  occupy." 

Here  positively  we  have  Mr.  PavnelPs  views 
powerfully  expressed ;  and  we  only  can  say  now 
it  was  a  pity  that  Mr.  Butt,  starting  with  the  same 
ideas,  should  have  veered  so  wide  apart  from- his 
young  follower  in  the  conclusions  he  ultimately 
reached.  As  for  Mr.  Butt's  appeal  for  whole- 
hearted support  from  the  do-nothiugs  of  the  party, 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  101 

so  far  as  its  effect  on  them  was  concerned,  it  might 
as  well  have  been  addressed  to  the  bricks  in  the 
walls  of  the  room  in  which  his  speech  was  deliv- 
ered. His  sentiments  were  cheered  to  the  echo-; 
nevertheless  the  majority  of  the  party  remained  as 
reluctant  as  ever  to  act  up  to  them. 

Under  the  circumstances  so  referred  to  by  the 
leader  of  the  party  Mr.  Paruell  felt  himself 
thoroughly  justified  in  following  his  own  course 
for  the  benefit  of  Irish  interests,  and  especially  of 
the  cause  of  self-government,  whether  with  or 
without  the  approval  of  Mr.  Butt.  That  able  and 
distinguished  man,  astute  as  he  was  in  most  af- 
fairs, was  yet  unable  to  perceive  the  exact  bearing 
of  the  new  policy.  He  regarded  it  as  plain  and 
simple  obstruction  of  the  business  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  again  and  again  prophesied  that 
it  would  be  put  down.  But  Mr.  Parnell  had  no 
notion  of  taking  up  an  attitude  which  he  could 
not  maintain  ;  and  one  of  the  cardinal  features  of 
the  novel  plan  of  action  he  had  struck  out  —  one, 
too,  which  seems  wholly  to  have  escaped  Mr.  Butt's 
notice — was  to  endeavor  to  benefit  the  British 
democracy  while  offering  steady  opposition  to  a 
British  aristocratic  Government.  By  this  simple 
means  he  at  once  served  the  broad  interests  of 
humanity,  incapacitated  the  London  Parliament 
for  speedy  work,  and  provided  an  excellent  and 
sure-acting  buffer  which  saved  himself  from  being 
crushed. 


102  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

On  this  principle  he  stood  while  opposing  the 
English  Prisons  Bill,  to  which  embryo  piece  of 
legislation  he  had  given  very  close  study.  All  his 
amendments  (and  he  proposed  a  great  many  indeed) 
were  directed  towards  liberalizing  the  measure. 
He  wanted  to  secure  even  criminals  from  brutal 
treatment  inside  the  prison  walls,  and  from  being 
compelled  by  the  cruelty  of  jailors  to  suffer  pun- 
ishments beyond  those  to  which  they  had  been 
condemned ;  he  wanted  adequate  supervision  and 
inspection  of  prisons;  he  wanted,  above  all,  to 
save  political  prisoners  from  the  degradations 
properly  meted  out  in  jail  to  the  murderous  burg- 
lar, the  callous  baby-farmer,  or  the  beast  convicted 
of  unspeakable  crimes.  Amendment  after  amend- 
ment was  proposed  by  him  only  to  be  lost;  and 
still  on  succeeding  clauses  of  the  bill  he  calmly 
brought  up  fresh  amendments  having  in  view  the 
same  or  similar  objects.  The  bill,  in  consequence, 
made  little  or  no  headway  in  committee  ;  and  the 
wrath  of  the  hitherto  omnipotent  majority  steadily 
accumulated  against  the  daring  offender  who  by 
his  audacious  pertinacity  was  single-handed  prov- 
ing himself  a  match  for  hundreds. 

And  just  now  Mr.  Parnell  developed  a  singular 
zeal  in  the  interests  of  the  soldiers  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  devoted  himself  with  heroic  constancy 
to  the  improvement  of  their  lot  by  moving  amend- 
ments to  the  Mutiny  Bill — a  measure  which  had 
been  therefore  passed  annually  as  a'  mere  matter 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  103 

of  form,  and  any  provision  of  which  the  ordinary 
British  member  would  have  deemed  it  sacrilege  to 
touch. 

The  gathering  waters  of  rage  in  the  end  burst 
through  the  dam,  and  there  came  "a  scene  in  the 
House."  It  was  immediately  after  the  Easter  re- 
cess ;  the  hour  was  advanced  in  the  morning ; 
Mr.  Parnell  had  been  at  constant  and  harassing 
work  for  some  ten  hours ;  he  wished  to  propose 
some  new  amendments  on  a  clause  about  to  be 
discussed,  and,  as  he  had  not  the  amendments 
prepared,  and  was  besides  completely  worn  out, 
he  made  the  quite  reasonable  suggestion  that  the 
committee  should  postpone  its  further  labors  to 
another  date. 

Let  the  reader  picture  to  himself  the  scene 
which  followed.  The  London  House  of  Com- 
mons is  eighty  feet  long  by  fifty  wide,  and  is 
forty  feet  in  height.  The  entrance  door  is  at  the 
foot  of  this  spacious  apartment;  and,  facing  the 
door,  at  the  head  of  the  room,  is  the  Speaker's 
chair.  A  T-shaped  table  stands  in  front  of  the 
Speaker's  chair.  Either  side  of  the  table  rise  up 
seats,  tier  on  tier,  the  higher  each  about  twelve 
inches  above  the  one  next  below,  and  all  lying 
lengthwise  do\vn  the  room.  Scattered  over  those 
seats  are  some  hundred  members  of  Parliament, 
most  of  them  in  the  regulation  "full  dress"  of 
London  —  white  tie,  much  shirt-front,  small  black 
waistcoat,  black  trousers,  and  black  swallow-tail 


104  C.    S.    PARXELL,    M.  P. 

coat.  Many  of  these  gentlemen  have  just  come 
to  the  House  from  dinner-parties  at  which  wine 
bus  been  flowing  pretty  freely  ;  others  have  looked 
in  on  their  way  home  from  balls  where  copious 
libations  of  champagne  had  been  offered  up  to 
pleasure.  These  are  boisterous.  On  the  front 
bench  to  the  right  of  the  Speaker's  chair  are  half 
a  dozen  members  of  the  Government,  asleep  or 
pretending  to  be  asleep.  In  the  chair  sits  the 
chairman  of  committees,  flushed  and  angry-look- 
ing—  his  face  suggestive  of  a  wish  to  have  some 
one  laid  under  a  Nasmyth  steam-hammer  in  full 
blast.  Far  down  the  room,  to  the  left  of  the 
chair,  stands  erect  a  slim  young  man,  calm,  com- 
posed, gentlemanly,  undemonstrative  either  in 
voice  or  gesture,  and  he  is  striving  to  address 
the  House.  The  convivial  gentlemen  converse 
quite  loudly  with  each  other,  and  in  concert,  as  if 
of  set  purpose ;  and  the  voice  of  the  speaker  is 
smothered  in  the  noise.  The  chairman  does  not 
interfere.  The  young  man  persists,  and  raises 
his  voice  above  the  din,  which  suddenly  grows 
twice  as  great  as  before.  The  speaker's  pale  face 
waxes  paler  still,  and  there  is  an  ominously  bright 
sparkle  in  his  brown  eyes  ;  further  than  this  there 
is  no  sign  that  he  is  moved  by  the  vulgar  rude- 
ness which  assails  him.  He  pauses,  standing  still 
erect.  There  comes  a  lull  in  the  designed  confu- 
sion ;  and  into  that  lull  he  interjects  a  sharp,  clear, 
terse  sentence,  not  at  all  conveying  compliments 


C.   S.    PAENELL,   M.  P.  105 

to  the  House.  Then  the  hilarious  young  gentle- 
men of  from  thirty-four  to  forty  who  have  been 
out  dancing,  or  dining  and  wining,  begin  to  dis- 
play the  variety  of  their  accomplishments.  Three 
or  four,  as  if  to  emphasize  that  frugality  of  na- 
ture's gifts  to  them  which,  among  their  acquaint- 
ances, causes  them  to  be  set  down  as  "asses," 
begin  to  bray.  Others  mimic  the  cries  of  barn- 
yard fowl  with  more  or  less  success.  Some 
whistle  as  if  they  were  lunatics  who  fancied  them- 
selves railway  locomotives  giving  out  a  warning ; 
some  ironically  shriek  "yaw-yaw"  —  which  is 
English  for  "hear,  hear";  others  scream  "'vide, 
'vide"  —  English  for  "divide,  divide";  and  one, 
a  sprig  of  nobility,  very  accurately  reproduces 
the  sounds  made  by  a  man  whose  stomach  revolts 
against  the  inordinate  quantity  of  strong  liquor 
with  which  he  has  overladen  it. 

Calmly,  in  spite  of  all,  the  speaker  goes  on 
whenever  a  moment's  lull  gives  him  a  chance. 
He  talks  as  argumeutatively  as  though  he  were 
addressing  a  roomful  of  philosophers,  and  he  does 
not  resume  his  seat  until  he  has  finished  the  reasons 
which  impel  him  to  move  "that  the  chairman  do 
report  progress" — one  of  the  forms  for  bringing 
to  an  end  a  sitting  of  the  House  in  committee. 

And  now  occurs  a  regrettable  incident.  Mr. 
Butt  has  been  taking  his  ease  outside  in  one  of 
the  lobbies.  Mr.  Butt  is  genial  to  a  fault;  he  is 
impressionable  too  ;  he  is  not  fond  of  fighting  at 


106  C.    S.    PAENELL,    M.  P. 

all ;  he  has  a  cordial  dislike  of  wounding  British 
susceptibilities;  and,  to  crown  all,  in  the  words 
which  Major  O'Gorman  once  applied  to  him  dur- 
ing his  lifetime  at  a  public  meeting,  "He  is  too 
soft  with  those  English  —  he  often  says  'hear, 
hear,'  when  he  should  say  'no,  no.'"  Some  one 
rushes  out  of  the  House  to  seek  Mr.  Butt,  finds 
him,  gives  him  a  garbled  account  of  what  had 
been  taking  place  inside,  and  induces  him  to 
come  in  and  use  his  influence  in  putting  down  the 
terrible  young  man  who  not  only  stops  the  wheels 
of  the  Parliamentary  machine,  and  threatens  to 
smash  it  up  altogether,  but  is  also  "doing  incalcu- 
lable damage  to  the  Home  Rule  cause."  How 
tender  the  regard  of  Englishmen  just  then  for 
"the  Home  Rule  cause  !  " 

Mr.  Butt,  without  thinking,  and  without  taking 
the  trouble  to  make  sure  that  his  informant  had 
not  deceived  him,  launches  out  into  a  denunciation 
of  Mr.  Parnell  which  earns  for  the  denouncer  the 
hearty  cheers  of  the  assembly,  the  aforesaid  con- 
vivial young  men  verging  on  middle  age  included. 
There  is  great  smiling  in  the  British  ranks  at  this 
episode,  and  much  mutual  congratulation.  Surely 
Mr.  Parnell  will  hearken  to  the  voice  of  his  leader ; 
surely  he  is  now  effectually  muzzled  and  fettered ; 
surely  they  can  get  through  their  Mutiny  Bill  that 
night,  and  so  put  it  beyond  the  power  of , any 
Irish  member  thereafter  to  busy  himself  in  a 
matter  so  purely  and  entirely  English. 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  107 

These  were  "the  pleasing  hopes,  the  fond  de- 
sires," in  which  British  members  indulged  as  Mr. 
Butt  poured  out  with  rapid  tongue  his  heated  ut- 
terances ;  and  it  does  not  seem  to  have  occurred 
to  any  one  of  those  members  that  an  Irish  mem- 
ber's right  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  settlement 
of  purely  English  affairs  has  been,  since  the 
Union,  quite  as  good  as  an  English  member's  to 
take  an  active  part  in  purely  Irish  affairs  ;  though 
the  latter  occurs  frequently  every  session. 

But  alas  for  those  delightful  speculations  !  Mr. 
Parnell,  though  grieved  at  the  tone  taken  up  by 
Mr.  Butt,  was  not  to  be  turned  aside  from  his 
purpose.  As  it  is  the  privilege  of  any  member  to 
move  alternately  the  motions,  "  That  the  chairman 
do  report  progress,"  and  "That  the  chairman  do 
leave  the  chair,"  just  so  long  as  he  chooses,  it 
came  to  pass,  the  moment  it  was  found  that  Mr. 
Parnell  had  really  made  up  his  mind  to  have  the 
further  consideration  of  the  Bill  postponed,  that 
the  House  and  the  Government  gave  way,  seeing 
plainly  that  nothing  whatever  was  to  be  gained  by 
a  continuance  of  the  fight,  and  that  nothing  could 
result  from  it  but  increased  disorder  and  confusion. 
They  had  had  some  experience  of  Mr.  Parnell  by 
that  time,  and  they  had  already  learned  that  when 
he  entered  deliberately  on  any  course  he  would 
"stick  to  it."  The  Bill  was  therefore  held  over  to 
another  date. 

The  wear  and  tear  of  struggling  almost  single- 


108  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

hand  against  hundreds,  as  well  as  of  his  close  and 
constant  attendance  in  the  House  the  whole  time 
it  remained  sitting,  began  even  so  early  in  the 
session  to  tell  on  Mr.  Parnell's  health.  Instead 
of  prescribing  for  himself  a  period  of  rest,  he  sent 
over  to  Ireland  for  a  couple  of  his  hunters,  on 
which  he  could  every  day  take  a  spin  in  the  fresh 
rural  air,  and  so  brace  himself  up  physically  for 
the  hard  work  still  before  him. 

Meanwhile  Mr.  Butt  had  thought  proper  pri- 
vately to  lecture  Messrs.  Parnell  and  Biggar  on 
what  he  thought  the  folly  of  their  course.  He 
was  annoyed  with  the  majority  of  his  followers 
for  doing  nothing  ;  but  he  was  still  more  annoyed 
with  a  small  minority  for  doing  what  he  consid- 
ered too  much.  The  members  for  Meath  and 
Cavan,  however,  while  responding  courteously, 
declined  to  have  their  hands  tied  by  their  leader 
on  matters  outside  his  jurisdiction.  The  leader 
appealed  to  the  party  ;  and  as  the  earnestness  and 
activity  of  Messrs.  Parnell  and  Biggar  was  in 
itself  an  incessant  and  stinging  reproach  to  the 
majority  for  their  total  want  of  either  one  quatety 
or  the  other,  the  majority  naturally  took  sides 
with  Mr.  Butt,  with  the  utmost  alacrity,  on  the 
point  in  dispute. 

This,  of  course,  did  not  make  more  smooth  the 
pathway  of  the  two  incriminated  members,  more 
especially  as  it  gave  the  good-for-nothings  the 
very  excuse  they  wanted  for  staying  away  from 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  109 

any  divisions  Mr.  Parncll  or  Mr.  Biggar  might 
wish  to  take.  Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  it  appears 
to  have  shamed  the  party  into  fits  of  action  now 
and  again  ;  as  when,  on  the  1st  of  May,  by  offer- 
ing a  prolonged  resistance  in  the  Parnell  manner 
they  compelled  the  Government  to  raise  the  num- 
ber of  the  committee,  on  cattle  plague  and 
importation  of  live  stock,  from  twenty-three  to 
twenty-seven,  for  the  purpose  of  adding  to  it  four 
men  of  the  Irish  party  ;  and  likewise  forced  them 
to  put  on  the  roll  of  the  committee  a  couple  of 
names  which  had  been  at  first  rejected.  Still 
further,  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  session 
the  members  for  Meath  and  Cavan  received  most 
valuable  aid  at  critical  moments  from  some  half- 
dozen  of  their  colleagues,  including  Major  O'Gor- 
man,  M?ijor  Nolan,  Mr.  A.  M.  Sullivan,  Mr. 
O'Connor  Power,  and  Mr.  G.  H.  Kirk. 

Mr.  Butt  about  April  wrote  a  lengthy  letter  to 
Mr.  Biggar,  and  subsequently  another  long  one  to 
Mr.  Parnell,  on  the  subject  of  their  new  patent 
breechloading  weapon  for  attacking  the  British 
House  of  Commons.  As  these  letters  did  not  pro- 
duce the  eflect  for  which  they  were  ostensibly  in- 
tended, he  most  unwisely  hastened  to  publish 
them.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  were 
originally  written  with  a  view  to  eventual  publica- 
tion. They  were  couched  in  a  style  meant  rather 
for  the  Irish  people  at  large  than  for  the  two 
gentlemen  addressed.  Mr.  Parnell  replied  in  an 


110  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

extremely  able  and  convincing  letter,  intended 
just  as  plainly  for  Mr.  Butt's  eyes  only.  Before, 
however,  it  was  quite  finished,  Mr.  Parnell  was- 
amazed  to  see  both  the  communication  he  had 
himself  received  and  that  which  Jiad  been  for- 
warded to  Mr.  Biggar  appearing  in  the  columns 
of  the  Irish  press.  This  circumstance  of  course 
left  Mr.  Parnell  no  option  but  to  publish  his  reply. 
At  that  time  it  had  been  the  fashion  with  many 
people  who  conceived  themselves  very  owls  for 
wisdom  to  speak  of  Mr.  Parnell  as  a  well  meaning 
young  man,  but  very  headstrong  and  imprudent. 
"We  reprint  here  the  conclusion  of  this  letter,  from 
which  readers  may  be  able  to  judge  for  themselves 
whether  the  balance  of  prudence  in  this  contro- 
versy lay  on  the  side  of  Mr.  Butt  or  of  Mr. 
^Parnell.  The  passage  is  as  follows  :  — 

"  P.  S. —  Since  writing  much  of  the  above  I  find 
that  your  action  in  publishing  }-our  letter  to  Mr. 
Biggar,  and  subsequently  that  to  myself,  will  necessi- 
tate the  publication  of  this  my  repl}T.  I  regard  your 
conduct  in  thus  appealing  to  the  public  upon  a  matter 
which  you  have  never  even  yet  brought  under  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Parliamentary  party  as  most  precipi- 
tate and  deplorable,  and  well  calculated  to  lead  to 
serious  dissension ;  but  as  3*011  have  taken  the  step  I 
must  disclaim  for  myself  the  responsibility  of  any 
damage  which  the  knowledge  of  the  serious  charges 
contained  in  my  letter  may  do  to  the  Home  Rule  party 
in  the  minds  of  the  public. 

«  C.  S.  P." 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  Ill 

Throughout  all  this  controversy  and  others  that 
followed  between  the  parties,  not  one  uncourteous 
word  fell  from  Mr.  Purnell's  lips  or  pen  in  respect 
to  Isaac  Butt.  lie  conducted  his  arguments  with 
unimpeachable  gentlemanliness  throughout ;  and 
even  when  the  great  old  man,  then  fast  declining 
towards  the  grave,  had  sunk  in  the  popular  esti- 
mation, Mr.  Parnell  never  wrote  or  spoke  of  him 
a  single  syllable  that  could  rankle  in  his  heart  or 
cause  him  a  personal  pang.  The  consequence  was 
that  till  the  last,  however  much  he  disapproved 
of  his  policy,  Isaac  Butt  cherished  a  sincere  re- 
spect for  Mr.  Parnell. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  Mr.  Butt's  attacks  on 
Messrs.  Parnell  and  Biggar,  and  their  defences, 
when  given  to  the  public,  created  no  little  sensa- 
tion, not  only  in  Ireland,  but  in  Great  Britain 
also.  The  press  of  the  latter  country  patted  the 
leader  of  the  Home  Rule  party  on  the  back,  and 
found  out  numerous  good  qualities  in  him  which 
it  had  not  before  discovered.  There  was  joy  in 
the  British  camp  ;  for  was  not  the  old  delightful 
game  of  Irish  dissension  being  played  as  charm- 
ingly as  ever?  Mr.  Butt  was  a  very  distinguished 
man;  he  had  experience ;  he  knew  what  "the 
tone  of  the  House  "  was  ;  he  respected  its  tradi- 
tions ;  his  great  ability  enabled  him  to  see  how 
damaging  even  to  Irish  interests  was  the  course 

C7          O 

on  which  Parnell  and  his  friends,  men   without 
brains  or  experience,  had  entered ;   though  un- 


112  C.    S.    PARXELL,   M.  P. 

fortunately  he  had  lent  himself  to  a  scheme 
which  threatened  "the  integrity  of  the  empire," 
he  was  yet  at  heart  a  constitutionalist.  Such 
was  the  st}Tle  of  comment  bestowed  on  him  by 
his  new  patrons,  the  London  editors;  and  as,  in 
truth,  he  really  believed  the  most  of  it,  his  anx- 
iety to  shackle  the  active  nieu  was  not  thereby 
lessened. 

In  Ireland,  however,  a  widely  different  kind  of 
comment  began  to  prevail.  Though  in  the  pro- 
British  and  the  trimming  journals  abuse  or  depre- 
cation of  "  obstruction "  was  a  staple  topic,  all 
the  organs  of  national  opinion  which  had  earned 
a  character  for  honesty  in  the  past  encouraged 
Mr.  Parnell  and  his  auxiliaries  to  persevere. 
Elderly  people,  wealthy  people,  "loyal"  people, 
and  people  by  nature  timid,  in  addition  to  the 
old  women  of  both  sexes,  alarmed  by  Mr.  Butt's 
denunciations  of  the  new  policy  as  "revolution- 
ary," shrieked  out  against  it ;  but  the  mass  of  the 
nation,  who  in  all  probability  saw  nothing  in  it 
then  but  a  means  of  punishing  the  British  Parlia- 
ment for  its  confirmed  hostility  to  Irish  rights, 
promptly  ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of  Par- 
nell and  Biggar.  In  this  state  of  affairs  Mr. 
Butt,  having  failed  to  achieve  the  purpose  in- 
tended by  the  publication  of  his  letters  to  those 
gentlemen,  convened  for  the  16th  of  June  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Irish  Parliamentary  party  to  take  the 
"obstruction"  question  into  consideration. 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  113 

Meanwhile,  undeterred  by  the  storms  gathering 
around  them  from  opposite  quarters,  the  few 
adherents  of  this  "revolutionary"  policy  went 
steadily  on  in  their  course.  As  at  a  bull-baiting 
the  remorseless  dog  seizes  his  enormous  antago- 
nist by  the  lip,  pinning  his  head  to  the  ground, 
and  with  iron  jaws  holds  him  immovable  and  help- 
less, so  they  held  the  House  of  Commons  in  an 
inexorable  gripe,  overmastering,  persistent,  unre- 
laxinof.  The  House  misfit  bellow  as  much  as  it 

O  o 

liked,  and  bellow  outrageously  it  did  pretty  often, 
but  that  was  nearly  the  utmost  it  could  do.  ISfow 
Mr.  ParneU  worried  it  on  the  question  of  the  re- 
lease of  the  political  prisoners ;  now  on  the  cor- 
rupting employment  of  secret  service  money  in 
Ireland;  now  on  the  Irish  Judicature  Bill;  now 
on  the  Irish  County  Courts  Bill ;  now  on  the 
army  estimates  ;  and  so  on.  Whatever  the  meas- 
ure the  Government  might  bring  on,  a  watchful 
wide-awake  Irish  half-dozen  were  present  to  see 
that  it  received  proper  discussion.  And  here  it 
may  be  remarked  that  one  of  the  rare  occasions 
on  which  Mr.  Parnell  was  called  to  order  occurred 
in  a  contest  with  the  House  on  the  1st  of  May, 
1877,  over  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Biggar  to  a 
place  on  the  cattle-plague  inquiry  committee. 
Some  paltry  snob  of  an  Englishman  had  the  au- 
dacity to  sneer  at  Mr.  Biggar  for  being  in  trade. 
At  this  insult  to  his  fast  friend  and  consistent 
colleague  the  hidden  fire  of  Mr.  Parnell's  nature 


114  C.    S.    PAENELL,   M.  P. 

flamed  forth.  That  mode  of  personal  attack  is 
essentially  an  offensively  vulgar  one  ;  while  Charles 
Stewart  Parnell,  from  the  crown  of  his  head  to 
the  sole  of  his  foot,  is  a  gentleman  every  inch. 
In  denouncing  the  British  snob  the  warmth  of  his 
feelings  caused  him  to  forget  his  customary  pru- 
dence, and  he  twice  fell  foul  of  the  "rules  of  the 
House."  Very  few  gentlemen  of  any  country 
would  think  anything  the  worse  of  him  for  this 
rare  exhibition  of  loss  of  perfect  self-control. 
Most  Irishmen,  we  fancy,  would  emphatically 
pronounce  the  throwing  of  prudence  to  the  winds 
under  such  circumstances  to  be  'r  a  good  fault." 

Once  again,  a  little  later  on,  he  was  hurried  into 
excitement  during  a  debate  on  the  Irish  political 
prisoners.  Home  Secretary  Cross  had  denied 
that  there  were  any  then  in  durance.  The  Fenian 
soldiers  still  held  he  described  as  military  prison- 
ers ;  O'Meara  Condon  and  Meledy  as  murders ; 
and  Mr.  Michael  Davitt  as  an  ordinary  convict. 
Such  a  classification  of  men,  whose  real  crime  in 
British  eyes  was  notoriously  their  connection  with 
an  organization  which  aimed  at  the  overthrow  of 
British  rule  in  Ireland,  stung  Mr.  Parnell  to  the 
quick ;  therefore  he  rose  to  reply  to  Mr.  Cross, 
and  to  expose  his  misrepresentations.  Although  a 
newspaper  correspondent  described  him  on  that 
occasion  as  speaking  "  with  the  placidity  and  gen- 
tleness of  demeanor,  and  in  the  cultivated  accents, 
which  are  the  marvel  of  strangers  who  are  shown 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  115 

for  the  first  time  the  terrible  twin  obstructive," 
the  outward  calm  but  hid  a  volcanic  working  be- 
neath, and  after  a  few  sharp  sentences,  brimming 
over  with  indignation,  yet  couched  in  language  of 
the  kind  considered  not  inadmissible  in  that  tem- 
ple of  manners,  the  London  House  of  Commons, 
he  was  compelled  by  the  strength  of  his  emotions 
to  bring  his  remarks  to  a  close  with  the  statement 
that  he  could  not  trust  himself  to  speak  further. 
And  the  stolid  British  majority,  who  had  been 
accustomed  to  think  him  in  nature  as  not  \mlike 
one  of  themselves,  incapable  of  warm  sympathies 
or  generous  feelings,  received  that  statement  with 
derisive  shouts  of  "  Oh  !  "  The  broader  purpose 
of  working  out  his  tactics  skilfully  —  the  only 
way  in  which  they  could  be  worked  —  made  him 
check  himself  before  he  had  infringed  his  privi- 
leges as  a  member  of  Parliament ;  and  in  a  little 
while  after,  on  the  same  night,  he  was  able  to 
assail,  with  the  most  absolute  self-control,  but 
with  a  sharpness  which  was  certainly  not  blunted 
by  Secretary  Cross'  earlier  observations  on  Irish 
political  prisoners,  the  whole  system  of  spies  and 
"informers"  in  Ireland,  in  a  debate  which  he 
raised  on  the  estimates  for  "secret  service  money." 
The  16th  of  June  came  ;  and  oh  !  what  a  flock- 
ing to  the  London  chambers  of  the  Irish  party 
there  was  of  its  members.  It  had  got  bruited 
among  them  that  Parnell  and  Biggar  and  the 
other  troublesome  persons  who  wanted  activity 


116  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

and  earnestness  and  courage  in  Irish  members  of 
Parliament  were  now  at  last  to  be  definitely 
squelched.  Men  whom  the  most  urgent  requisi- 
tion of  their  leader  could  not  bring  thither  when 
it  was  only  a  question  of  taking  counsel  how  best 
to  forward  some  Irish  interest  in  Parliament,  were 
prompt  in  attendance  when  the  object  in  view  was 
the  highly  important  one  of  annihilating  such  ex- 
hibitions of  zeal  in  the  country's  service  as  were  a 
standing  reproach  to  those  members  who  did  not 
care  one  jot  about  the  country  or  its  interests  so 
long  as  confiding  constituencies  could  be  found  to 
elect  political  hypocrites  to  represent  them.  The 
do-nothings  turned  up  in  alarming  force  at  the 
meeting,  now  at  last  resolved  to  "do  something" 
- — not  for  Ireland  ;  oh  !  no  !  but  for  the  ridding 
their  own  precious  selves  of  a  perpetual  annoy- 
ance. The  contrast  between  activity  and  indo- 
lence, between  earnestness  and  indifference,  be- 
tween steady  application  to  Parliamentary  duty 
and  almost  equally  steady  neglect  of  it — this  was 
setting  up  a  totally  new  example,  establishing  an 
alarming  precedent,  instilling  into  the  minds  of 
Irish  electors  the  pernicious  notion  that  they 
ought  to  expect  real  service  from  their  represent- 
atives ;  and  of  course  the  sooner  such  a  mon- 
strous conception  of  political  duty  was  smothered 
the  better.  To  those  London  chambers  of  the 
Irish  party  also  crowded  the  old  Whigs  who  had 
masqueraded  as  Home  Rulers  at  the  general 


C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P.  117 

election  of  1874,  and  who,  so  long  as  a  Tory  Gov- 
ernment was  in  office,  might  be  depended  on  to 
appear  pretty  constantly  in  opposition  to  it  — 
whether  as  followers  of  Isaac  Butt  or  of  the  Mar- 
quis of  Hartington  mattered  but  little  for  the  time. 
To  the  same  chamber  came  also  the  more  limited 
number  of  Tories  who  had  donned  the  Home  Rule 
cloak  to  secure  election,  but  who  were  equally 
anxious  with  the  two  other  classes  to  put  down 
the  men  that  were  lunattc  or  idiotic  enough  to 
keep  Ireland  —  Ireland  only — in  viewiii  the  Brit- 
ish Parliament. 

Yet  it  is  somewhat  consoling  to  remember  that 
a  very  considerable  number  of  the  Irish  Parlia- 
mentary party  who  were  not  able  conscientiously 
to  accept  the  new  policy,  or  did  not  quite  under- 
stand all  its  bearings,  made  it  their  business  to 
attend  this  meeting  of  the  16th  of  June,  1877,  to 
interpose  themselves  between  the  "too  active" 
minority  and  the  too  idle  majority.  Their  well- 
meant  services,  however,  were  not  needed  at  the 
time.  Isaac  Butt  was  no  fool.  He  found  on  this  oc- 
casion forty  of  his  nominal  followers  surrounding 
him  —  a  number  by  far  greater  than  he  could  ordi- 
narily gather  around  him  in  what  he  deemed  crises 
of  the  very  first  importance  in  Irish  affairs.  He 
knew,  too,  how  reedlike  was  the  support  afforded 
him  by  many  of  those  who  had  answered  with 
such  unusual  alacrity  his  present  summons.  And 
he  knew  that  the  one  complaint  he  had  to  make 


118  C.    S.    PAKNELL,    M.  P. 

against  the  Parucll  and  Biggar  handful  was  what 
he  unfortunately  considered  too  much  zeal.  Con- 
sequently, when  they  explained  the  motives  which 
had  moved  them  in  the  Parliamentary  action  to 
which  he  took  exception,  and  corrected  the  false 
impression  of  it  which  he  had  conceived,  there 
was  an  end  for  the  moment  of  all  controversy. 
No  resolution  condemnatory  of  them  was  passed  ; 
but  instead  was  one  inculcating  the  Heed  of  more 
frequent  meetings  of  the  party,  so  as  to  secure 
more  unity  and  greater  activity  in  its  proceedings. 
Vain  hopes  !  delusive  dreams  !  Wild  horses,  un- 
tamed elephants,  could  not  have  dragged  back 
again  to  those  chambers  wherein  that  resolution 
was  unanimously  voted  several  of  those  who  as- 
sented to  it  that  day.  They  had  gone  there  to 
assist  in  putting  down  inconvenient  activity ;  in 
the  turn  that  affairs  took  they  were  left  only  the 
alternative  of  exposing  their  hypocrisy  or  agree- 
ing to  the  resolution  ;  they  chose  the  latter  course, 
but  apparently  with  a  mental  reservation  which 
gave  them  liberty  to  exempt  themselves  from  the 
scope  of  the  resolution.  At  all  events,  the  rooms 
of  the  party  were  but  seldom  afterwards  enlight- 
ened with  their  presence. 

The  wonderful  effect  of  this  famous  meeting  in 
restraining  those  whom  it  was  called  together  to 
handcuff  will  presently  be  seen.  A  few  days  after 
it  was  held,  however,  an  event  happened  which 
contributed  to  give  some  extraordinary  develop- 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  119 

meats  to  the  new  Irish  policy  in  the  British  Ptir- 
liament.  This  was  the  election  of  Mr.  Frank 
Hugh  O'Donnell  as  member  for  Dungarvan  on 
the^23tl  of  June,  1877. 

Mr.  O'Donnell  was  a  graduate  of  the  Queen's 
College,  Galway,  and  a  man  of  varied  accom- 
plishments and  much  ability,  who  had  gravitated 
towards  the  London  press.  For  years  he  had 
waged  relentless  war  against  the  mixed  system  of 
education,  especially  as  illustrated  in  the  Queen's 
Colleges ;  and  year  after  year  he  had  undevi- 
atingly  attended  the  convocation  of  the  Queen's 
University  to  assail,  generally  single-handed,  in 
the  teeth  of  an  adverse  majority,  its  fundamental 
principle.  As  he  never  had  more  than  one  sup- 
porter on  these  occasions,  and  usually  had  not 
even  one ;  and  as  the  other  members  of  convoca- 
tion, from  the  occupant  of  the  chair  to  the  young- 
est graduate,  were  zealous  adherents  of  the 
"mixed  system,"  it  is  easy  to  see  what  hardihood 
he  must  have  had  to  stand  up  for  the  right  in  a 
gathering  so  completely  adverse,  and  to  fancy 
what  hootings,  jeerings,  clamor  of  all  kinds — to 
say  nothing  of  perpetual  calls  to  order  by  the 
chairman  —  he  had  to  endure. 

One  who  had  received  such  rough  but  suitable 
training  was  eminently  a  man  for  the  new  Parlia- 
mentary policy  ;  and  as  if  by  natural  instinct  Mr. 
O'Dounell  took  to  it.  He  became  at  once,  and 
continued  to  be,  one  of  the  most  efficient  of  Mr. 


120  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

P.-irnell's  aids.  There  was  no  fear  whatever  that 
the  wildest  tumult  of  the  London  Commons  would 
put  him  down.  As  the  stormy  petrel  is  at  home 
when  elemental  fury  is  at  its  highest,  so  was  Mr. 
O'Donnell  amid  the  hurricane  rage  of  a  bitterly 
hostile  assembly. 

He  had  formally  taken  his  seat  but  a  few  days 
when  he  gave  his  fellow  Commoners  a  taste  of  his 
quality.  The  date  was  the  night  of  the  2nd  July, 
or  rather  the  morning  of  the  3d.  The  hour  was 
one  o'clock.  The  occasion  was  the  wish  of  the 
few  watchful,  industrious  Irish  members  present 
to  protest  against  the  denial  to  Ireland  of  volun- 
teer corps.  The  opportunity  afforded  was  the 
vote  for  the  British  volunteers  in  the  army  esti- 
mates. 

At  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  Captain  Nolan 
(who  has  since  attained  the  rank  of  Major),  whose 
courage  and  fidelity  are  worthy  of  all  honor, 
opened  the  ball  by  moving  "that  the  chairman  do 
report  progress."  His  object  was  to  secure  the 
bringing  on  of  the  vote  for  the  British  volunteers 
at  an  hour  when  a  discussion  on  the  Irish  side  of 
the  question  could  be  raised  with  effect ;  it  being 
notorious  that  in  the  small  hours  of  the  morning 
the  British  Commons  are  utterly  impatient  of  and 
adverse  to  discussion,  wanting  to  have  done  with 
business  of  any  kind,  however  important,  and  to 
go  home  to  bed ;  and  it  being  almost  equally  no- 
torious that  Government  business  which  is  likely 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  121 

to  evoke  discussion,  comes  on,  by  some  singular 
chance,  at  those  same  small  hours. 

And  here  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  essence 
of  what  is  now  commonly  called  the  Parnell  policy 
consists  iu  having,  on  every  occasion  when  it  is 
brought  in  play,  a  distinct,  appreciable,  and  reas- 
onable purpose.     Its  strength  lies  in  the  fact  that, 
while  every  form  of  Parliament  is  to  be  availed 
of,  nothing  is  to  be  done  blindly,  or  without  an 
object    readily   comprehensible   by   at   least   the 
leaders  of  the  House.     It  is  elastic  also  as  well  as 
strong,  for  it  can  be  employed  on  every  variety 
of  topic  that  can  come  before  the  Commons  at 
Westminster.     Also — since   the   Union  compels 
the  return  of  Irish  members  to  the  British  Parlia- 
ment— so  long  as  the  Union  lasts  (and  that  is  to 
say,  so  long  as  Irish  members  are  sent  to  that  Par- 
liament) ,  there  is  no  possible  way  of  checking  the 
employment  of  that  policy,  even  a  little,  except 
by  restricting  the   liberties  of  British  members 
themselves.     For  the  Act  of  Union   puts    Irish 
members  on  precisely  the  same  footing  as  those  of 
Great  Britain  ;  and  any  distinction  made  between 
them  would  tear   up  the  last  shred  of  that  Act. 
Even  the  alternative  of  ejecting  from  the  House 
obnoxious  individual  Irish  members,  while  a  prece- 
dent full  of  evil  possibilities  for  the  British  them- 
selves,  would    be  useless   in  presence  of  a   de- 
termined spirit  in  the  Irish  constituencies ;  since 
the  seats  made  vacant  could  be  easily  filled  —  and 


122  C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P. 

would  certainly  be  in  such  circumstances — by 
men  who  would  very  soon  be  at  least  as  obnoxious. 
Again,  with  half  a  hundred  members  working  in 
concert  on  the  principles  invented  by  Mr.  Parnell, 
it  would  even  be  impossible  to  single  out  indi- 
vidual members  for  censure  or  punishment ;  and 
therefore  a  really  resolute  Irish  party  might  tri- 
umphantly exclaim  to  the  most  intolerant  British 
majority  that  ever  existed  since  1801,  "Now,  infi- 
del, I  have  thee  on  the  hip  ! "  In  short,  even  to 
cripple  "obstruction,"  carried  out  systematically 
and  skilfully  by  only  a  score  of  members  acting 
on  a  common  understanding,  the  majority  must 
cripple  themselves  also,  must  part  with  valuable 
priviliges,  materially  impair  not  only  the  prestige 
and  the  freedom  of  the  London  Parliament,  but 
its  strength  as  a  bulwark  of  English  liberties  as 
well,  and  surrender  portion  of  its  power  of  re- 
sisting the  encroachments  of  tyranny. 

There  were  over  a  hundred  British  members  in 
the  House,  the  Home  Rulers  were  but  seven  in  all, 
when  Captain  Nolan  rose  to  his  feet.  The  Brit- 
ish majority  resented  the  intrusion  of  Irish  mem- 
bers in  their  affairs.  But  the  Irish,  few  as  they 
were,  were  resolved  to  win.  Captain  Nolan 
having  withdrawn  his  motion,  Mr.  O'Connor 
Power  took  it  up.  Of  course  he  was  beaten  on  a 
division.  Mr.  O'Dounell  promptly  rose  to  move 
"  that  the  chairman  do  leave  the  chair."  A  hide- 
ous din  greeted  him  as  he  went  on  to  speak  to 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  123 

his  motion.  Some  of  the  gentlemen  of  "the  first 
assembly  in  the  world"  begun  those  imitations  of 
the  speech  of  the  lower  animals  at  which  they  are 
such  adepts ;  others  laughed  loudly  in  derision ; 
others,  again,  indulged  in  inarticulate  shouts  ;  and 
others  still,  as  the  tremendous  uproar  went  on, 
exclaimed,  "let  us  see  how  much  he  will  stand." 
Such  terms  as  "hypocritical,"  "shabby,"  and  such 
choice  flowers  of  rhetoric  as  "pigs  could  obstruct," 
were  bandied  about  amid  the  tumult  of  the  night ; 
and  the  chairman  of  committees,  alarmed  at  the 
state  of  violent  disorder  to  which  the  House  in  its 
auger  had  reduced  itself,  interposed  sharply  sev- 
eral times  to  restrain  the  more  violent,  and  even 
threatened  to  bring  the  beastly  conduct  of  one* 
"noble  lord"  before  the  House.  The  great  British 
Parliament,  in  fact — the  model  of  representative 
institutions  all  over  the  world — had  been  turned 
for  the  nonce  into  a  Bedlam. 

Those  who  were  anxious  to  know  how  much  Mr. 
O'Donnell  "could  stand"  soon  discovered  that  he 
could  stand  a  great  deal  indeed.  When  he  had 
been  on  his  legs  about  half  an  hour,  and  a  partial 
lull  in  the  storm  had  been  obtained  through  the 
chairman's  exertions,  he  paralyzed  his  British 
audience  by  coolly  observing  that  as  they  had  not 
been  able  to  hear  his  remarks  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  make  them  over  again.  And  he  was  as 
good  as  his  word.  He  began  his  speech  anew, 
and  unconcernedly  went  over  the  whole  ground  he 


124  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

had  before  traversed  ;  and  when  at  a  quarter  past 
two  he  resumed  his  seat  he  had  infused  into  the 
breasts  of  his  would-be  tormentors  a  feeling  lu- 
dicrously akin  to  positive  terror. 

The  House  had  been  gradually  receiving  acces- 
sions during  these  proceedings  until  the  majority 
reached  about  one  hundred  and  fifty.  The  Irish 
still  fo-ught  on.  Some  British  members,  unwilling 
to  give  way  to  the  audacious  Hibernian  handful,  yet 
anxious  to  go  home,  had  the  House-"  counted," 
but  when  forty  members  were  found  to  be  present 
the  sitting  went  on.  Major  O'Gorman  followed 
Mr.  O'Donnell  with  a  motion  "that  the  chairman 
report  progress,;  "  when  he  was  beaten  Mr.  O'Con- 
nor Power  moved  "  that  the  chairman  leave  the 
chair ; "  when  he  was  beaten  Mr.  Richard  Power 
moved  that  progress  be  reported ;  when  he  was 
beaten  Mr.  Parnell  moved  the  chairman  out  of  the 
chair ;  when  he  was  beaten  Mr.  O'Connor  Power 
moved  to  report  progress.  Thus  the  British 
majority  were  kept  marching  and  countermarch- 
ing in  and  out  of  the  division  lobby  pretty  actively 
for  an  hour. 

About  this  time,  three  o'clock  having  been 
reached,  the  chairman  felt  that  unsupported  nature 
could  not  sustain  itself  in  such  distressing  circum- 
stances, so  he  had  refreshments  brought  to  him 
into  the  House,  and  consumed  them  with  what 
relish  he  could  at  the  table  in  front  of  the  chair. 
The  Speaker,  whose  office  compelled  him  to  wait 


C.    8.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  125 

for  the  formal  adjournment  of  the  sitting,  was 
asleep  in  another  chamber.  Much  talk  went  on, 
much  bandying  of  more  or  less  polite  abuse,  much 
crimination  and  recrimination  ;  and  in  the  mean- 
time the  short  Summer  night  had  slipped  .away, 
the  morning  sun  was  streaming  in  through  the 
windows,  and  at  four  o'clock  the  gas  was  turned 
off.  During  the  talk  two  other  efforts  to  count 
out  the  House  had  been  made  without  effect.  The 
marching  and  countermarching  began  again.  Mr. 
Parnell  moved  to  report  progress  ;  Mr.  O'Donrrell 
that  the  chairman  leave  the  chair.  These  were 
followed  in  quick  succession  by  corresponding 
motions  from  Mr.  O'Connor  Power,  Major  O'Gor- 
man,  and  Mr.  Richard  Power;  when  another 
effort  to  count  out  the  House  was  made  ;  but  still 
there  were  found  over  forty  brave  Britons  who 
would  perish  on  the  spot  rather  than  surrender. 

The  divisions  had  been  going  on  in  a  grim, 
business-like  way  for  an  hour,  when  Mr.  Parnell 
remarked  that  Irish  questions  were  treated  there 
in  a  half-contemptuous  way,  and  that  by  deter- 
mined action  they  would  force  on  the  House  the 
duty  of  treating  them  properly.  Whereupon  an 
English  member,  rejoicing  in  the  name  of  Blake, 
rather  irrelevantly  retorted  that  Mr.  Parnell  had 
spoken  disrespectfully  of  Mr.  Speaker ;  to  which 
charge  Mr.  Parnell,  in  calm  accents,  gave  a  "dis- 
tinct denial"  and  "the  flattest  contradiction."  A 
hurricane  of  uproar  and  confusion  supervened ; 


126  C.    S.    PAKNELL,    M.  P. 

and  when  the  chairman  had  calmed  it  down  some- 
what the  walking  in  and  out  of  the  lobbies  recom- 
menced. Mr.  Richard  Power  and  Mr.  Parncll 
moved  the  usual  motions.  Another  futile  effort 
was  made  for  a  count-out ;  then  the  division  on 
Mr.  ParnelPs  motion  was  taken,  and  announced 
at  five  minutes  to  seven.  Mr.  O'Connor  Power 
at  once  moved  that  progress  be  reported.  Some 
talk  ensued,  in  the  course  of  which  Sir  John 
Lubbock  complained  that  only  five  Irish  members 
pursued  this  unprecedented  course ;  whereupon 
Mr.  Parnell  enlivened  matters  by  playfully  re- 
minding him  that  there  is  luck  in  odd  numbers ; 
and  Mr.  TVhalley — kindly  old  soul  that  he  was, 
even  if  sometimes  wrong-headed  —  who  had  man- 
fully stood  by  the  Irishmen  all  the  livelong  night, 
threw  in  a  scrap  of  the  comic  element  by  censur- 
ing Ministers  for  having  kept  them  there  all  night 
"  at  the  risk  of  their  lives." 

The  House  was  again  counted.  Only  thirty-six 
were  found  present ;  so  the  Speaker  was  roused 
from  his  slumbers  and  came  into  the  Commons 
chamber.  Having  again  counted  the  House,  and 
found  only  thirty  present,  he  declared  the  sitting 
adjourned. 

It  is  now  twelve  minutes  past  seven.  The 
warm  glare  of  the  July  morning  fills  the  large 
apartment;  and  there,  "like  eagles  in  the  sun, 
the  Irish  stand,"  cheering  loudly  —  "the  field  is 
fought  and  won."  They  have  gained  their  point. 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  127 

By   sheer   resolution    and   endurance    they   have 
beaten  the  domineering  British  majority. 

As  may  be  supposed,  the  all-night  contest  of 
the  3rd  July,  and  the  Irish  victory  in  which  it  re- 
sulted, roused  to  a  white  heat  of  fury  the  indig- 
nant blood  of  every  true  Briton.  "If  this  kind  of 
thing  is  to  go  on,"  was  the  universal  cry  from 
Land's  End  to  Johu-o'-Groats,  "what  is  to  be- 
come of  the  most  venerated  of  our  institutions? 
Parliament  will  be  brought  into  permanent  con- 
tempt ;  its  prestige  is  already  fearfully  lowered ; 
its  morale  has  even  now  received  alarming  shocks 
from  which  it  must  take  time  to  recover;  and 
where  will  it  all  end  if  '  obstruction '  be  persisted 
in?  Why,  the  Irish  will  be  virtual  dictators  of 
the  House.  They  will  destroy  it  altogether,  or 
compel  it  to  let  go  its  grasp  on  their  country."  • 

British  editors,  in  especial,  saw  all  this  quite 
clearly,  and  for  weeks  did  not  tire  of  ringing  the 
changes  on  it.  Not  only  in  the  London  but  in 
the  provincial  press  rabid  leaders  against  "  the  ob- 
structives "  were  every-day  occurrences.  "  Ob- 
struction "  should  be  put  down  with  a  high  hand ; 
it  should  be  stamped  out,  etc.,  etc.  This  was 
the  burden  of  their  monotonous  song.  But  how  ? 
The  question  was  a  greater  puzzle  than  the  riddle 
of  the  Sphinx  in  the  antique  days.  All  the  writers 
sagely  and  solemnly  asseverated  that  "something 
should  be  done  ;  "  but  not  one  of  them  could  dis- 
cover what  that  something  could  possibly  be.  The 


128  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

incriminated  members  had  simply  exercised  the 
privileges  of  their  position.  It  was  patent  that  to 
punish  them  for  so  doing  would  not  only  wear  an 
ugly  look  in  foreign  eyes,  but  would  establish  a 
bad  precedent  which  might  afterwards  be  em- 
ployed to  the  detriment  of  British  liberties.  There 
could  be  no  possibility  of  hiding  from  the  nations 
abroad  aught  in  connection  with  scenes  which  had 
attracted  the  gaze  of  the  civilized  world ;  nor  does 
history  ofier  any  guarantee  that  there  may  not 
soon  arise  a  designing  British  Minister  of  Imperial 
proclivities,  misleading  genius,  and  mastery  of 
base  arts,  who,  backed  by  a  blind  majority, 
would  not  scruple  to  use  any  weapon  he  found 
ready  to  his  grasp  to  crush  a  handful  struggling  in 
the  House  of  Commons  to  preserve  the  rights  so 
hardly  won  for  themselves  by  the  British  people. 
Therefore  the  efforts  made  to  crack  the  exceed- 
ingly hard  nut  of  "  obstruction  "  got  no  farther  in 
the  press  than  that  "  something  should  be  done." 

But  if  the  editors  were  furious,  what  term  can 
describe  the  feelings  surging  in  the  breasts  of  the 
mass  of  members  of  Parliament  ?  If  howling  and 
clamor,  and  all  the  ways  of  a  cowardly  mob,  short 
of  actual  persona]  violence,  could  vanquish  the 
Irish  enemy,  there  would  have  been  a  speedy  end 
to  the  trouble.  Those  rude  weapons,  however, 
had  been  tried  and  been  found  of  no  avail.  Never- 
theless it  was  clear  that  "something  should  be 
done ; "  so  the  active  brain  of  one  Mr.  Puleston  — 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  129 

who  strangely  blends  in  himself  British  member- 
ship, Yankee  birth  and  connections,  and  violent 
Tory  leanings  —  was  set  to  work. 

On  the  4th  of  July  he  came  down, to  the  House 
with  what  he  thought  was  an  eighty-ton  gun, 
warranted  to  blow  up  "  the  obstructives "  at  a 
single  discharge,  and  all  his  own  invention  too. 
Its  charmingly  simple  principle  was'  to  entrust  to 
a  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons  the  power  of 
crushing  a  minority  at  will.  But  this  monster 
piece  of  ordnance,  while  no  doubt  very  effective 
for  the  purpose  Mr.  Puleston  had  in  mind,  was 
unfortunately  too  sweeping  in  its  discharge,  and 
could  not  be  counted  on  to  avoid  blowing  up 
others  than  mere  Irish  members.  The  House  very 
soon  saw  that  this  was  the  case ;  and  the  conse- 
quence was  that  Mr.  Puleston's  eighty-ton  gun 
was  rejected  amid  general  laughter. 

The  English  Tory  of  the  name  of  Blake  —  per- 
haps smarting  under  that  "  flattest  contradiction  " 
which  he  had  received  from  Mr.  Parnell  on  the 
morning  of  the  3rd  —  returned  to  the  charge  on 
the  4th,  burning  for  the  opportunity  of  bringing 
the  member  for  Meath  to  book  about  his  alleged 
disrespectful  language  concerning  the  Speaker  of 
the  House.  Being  on  that  occasion  foiled  he 
made  another  essay  on  the  5th.  The  forms  of  the 
House  stood  in  his  way ;  but  Mr.  Parnell  was 
quite  anxious  to  accommodate  Mr.  Blake ;  and, 
rising  in  his  place,  blandly  observed  that  if  the 


130  C.    S.    PARNELL,,    M.  P. 

House  wished  for  explanation  on  the  matter,  "  he 
did  not  in  any  way  wish  to  stand  in  the  way  of 
the  House  getting  that  explanation."  The  Speaker 
himself  closed  the  incident  for  the  time ;  but  on 
the  6th  Mr.  Parnell  made  an  early  opportunity 
for  giving  his  explanation,  and  so  disposed  of  Mr. 
Blake  and  his  motion. 

The  same  night,  Mr.  Biggar  and  he,  as  com- 
posed as  if  nothing  had  ever  happened  out  of  the 
usual  course,  and  as  if  they  had  not  been  besides 
the  theme  of  numberless  hostile  leading  articles  in 
the  papers  for  several  mornings,  quite  calmly  and 
deliberately  opposed  two  English  bills,  taking 
several  divisions  on  motions  to  stop  their  progress 
in  committee,  and  in  the  end  were  again  victo- 
rious. Further,  some  English  "  gentleman  "  hav- 
ing spoken  of  Mr.  Biggar  as  a  "  blackguard " 
during  the  struggle,  Mr.  Parnell  had  him  at  once 
before  the  Speaker,  and  compelled  him  to  with- 
draw and  apologize  for  using  the  offensive  epithet. 

About  this  period  the  Government  was  very 
anxious  to  push  on  two  Irish  measures  of  its  own 

—  the  Judicature  Bill  and  the  County  Courts  Bill 

—  many  of  the  provisions  of  both  of  which  had 
earned  the  condemnation  of  the  Irish  Parliament- 
ary party,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  of  such  of 
them  as  took  the  trouble  to  attend  even  moder- 
ately to  their  public   duties.     Whenever  any  of 
the  party  were  inclined  for  work,   Mr.   Parnell 
worked  with  them  heartily.     In  conjunction  with 


C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P.  131 

them  he  took  an  active  part  iii  the  issues  raised  on 
the  Judicature  Bill,  besides  dragging  up  the 
Pho3iiix  Park  outrage  on  the  estimates  for  the 
metropolitan  police ;  making  efforts  to  improve 
the  constitution  of  the  Local  Government  Board  ; 
and  again  drawing  attention  to  the  Phoenix  Park 
outrage  on  the  constabulary  estimates.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  procuring  the  adoption  of  several  of  his 
amendments,  as  well  as  in  extracting  from  the 
Government  a  definite  promise  that  they  would 
provide  for  independent  inspection  of  all  convict 
prisons,  so  that  their  unhappy  inmates  should  not 
be  left  wholly  to  the  tender  mercies  of  hardened 
officials.  Good  work  for  a  single  man,  this  will 
no  doubt  be  thought ;  yet  not  a  tithe  of  what  it 
would  have  been  but  for  the  restraining  presence 
of  Mr.  Butt,  who  appealed  to  Mr.  Parnell  to  give 
way  on  the  constabulary  estimates.  In  spite  of 
what  had  passed  between  the  two  gentlemen,  Mr. 
Parnell,  in  deference  to  Mr.  Butt,  did  give  way. 
Thus  a  "scene"  which  must  have  been  more  vio- 
lent than  any  preceding  one,  was  avoided  on  the 
19th  of  July ;  for  it  had  been  Mr.  Parnell's  re- 
solve to  have  challenged  a  division  on  every  one 
of  thirty-two  estimates,  and  it  is  but  natural  to 
suppose  that  the  tempers  of  the  mob  of  unwill- 
ing pedestrians  should  have  suffered  more  than 
ever  under  an  infliction  so  unprecedented.  Mr. 
Paruell,  however,  did  not  leave  the  House  in  the 
least  doubt  either  as  to  the  intentions  he  had  eii- 


132  C.    8.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

tertained  or  the  reason  which  moved  him  to  forego 
them.  He  openly  stated  that  "it  was  fortunate 
for  the  Government  that  the  honorable  and  learned 
member  for  Limerick  was  present ;  for,  had  it  not 
been  for  his  declared  wish,  he  (Mr.  Parnell) 
should  have  divided  the  House  on  every  one  of 
the  thirty-two  votes."  A  sense  of  relief  must 
have  been  experienced  all  along  the  Government 
benches  at  this  announcement,  and  a  transitory 
feeling  of  gratitude  to  Mr.  Butt  no  doubt  was 
felt.  Against  Mr.  Parnell,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  bitterest  antipathy  was  excited  by  his  auda- 
cious declaration.  It  was  borne  in  mind  too ; 
and  the  very  next  night  the  frantic  hostility  of 
"the  first  assembly  of  gentlemen  in  the  world," 
as  the  English  are-  fond  of  calling  their  House  of 
Commons,  burst  in  a  tornado  of  uproar,  the  equal 
of  which  had  never  been  known  within  the  walls 
of  the  Commons  chamber.  The  scene  which 
took  place  was  similar  to  those  we  have  previ- 
ously described,  only  much  more  disorderly, 
tumultuous,  and  disgraceful. 

The  scene  began  by  Mr.  Biggar  moving,  near 
one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  that  progress  should 
be  reported.  In  the  course  of  an  animated  dis- 
cussion which  ensued,  Mr.  Butt  said  he  did  not 
regard  the  proceedings  initiated  by  Mr.  Biggar  as 
obstruction.  Notwithstanding  this  pronounce- 
ment of  the  leader  of  the  Irish  party,  Mr.  Mel- 
don  "protested  against  the  course  taken  by  the 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  133 

honorable  member  for  Cavau  as  obstructive,"  etc. 
Mr.  O'Shaughuessy  also,  the  junior  member  for 
Limerick  city,  was  rewarded  by  "  loud  cheers," 
for  a  wanton  attack  apon  his  brother  Irish  mem- 
bers. This  brought  Mr.  Parnell  to  his  feet  in  re- 
ply. Then  the  full  fury  of  the  hurricane  burst 
forth.  The  uproar  grew  deafening.  Most  of  it 
was  inarticulate  noises  —  shouts,  hoots,  yells, 
groans,  howls  —  purposely  made  to  try  once 
more  to  cow  him,  and  at  least  to  prevent  him 
from  being  heard.  Amid  the  horrid  din  occa- 
sionally could  be  heard  shrieks  of  "'vide,  'vide," 
screams  of  "sit  down,"  and  the  like;  while  one 
honorable  gentleman,  filled  with  an  enlightened 
zeal  for  "the  tone  of  the  House,"  roared  out, 
familiarly,  "Finish  up,  Parnell."  The  member 
for  Meath,  however,  was  not  cowed,  did  not  sit 
down,  and  would  not  "finish  up."  Instead,  he 
showed  a  spice  of  resentment  at  the  organized 
clamor  to  which  he  was  being  subjected,  and  con- 
trived to  make  himself  distinctly  heard  while 
uttering  some  stinging  sentences  not  compliment- 
ary to  the  English  national  character.  But  it 
was  hard  work  to  go  on.  The  following  para- 
graph will  help  the  reader  to  realize  the  circum- 
stances under  which  Mr.  Parnell  spoke  that 
night :  — 

"This  is  a  sample  (great  uproar)  —  this  is  a 
sample — (deafening  uproar) — this  is  a  sample  of 
your  English  fair  play —  (indescribable  confusion) . 


134  C.    S.    PAKNELL,    M.  P. 

I  have  often  heard  of  it — (continued  uproar)— 
but  I  have  never  seen  it" — (prolonged  uproar). 
In  the  midst  of  the  hideous  and  disgusting  con- 
fusion the  chairman's  voice  is  faintly  heard,  call- 
ing on  the  honorable  member  for  Meath  to  proceed  ; 
to  which  that  honorable  member  calmly  responds 
that  he  will  if  he  is  allowed. 

In  the  end,  by  persistence,  Mr.  Parnell  won. 
The  very  means  designed  to  prevent  what  was 
called  "obstruction  of  business"  proved  in  truth 
an  admirable  instrument  for  preventing  the  House 
from  doing  any  business  whatever.  This  fact 
began  to  dawn  on  the  Tory  leaders  when  a  couple 
of  hours  had  been  spent  in  wild  confusion ;  and 
at  length  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  con- 
sented to  close  the  sitting.  It  was  considerably 
after  two  o'clock  on  a  Saturday  morning  when  the 
House  adjourned,  on  the  understanding  that  there 
should  be  a  sitting  for  that  day,  beginning  at 
noon,  to  push  on  the  Judicature  Bill.  Saturday, 
except  on  very  extraordinary  occasions,  is  a  holi- 
day with  the  London  Parliament,  and  members 
are  always  very  loath  to  give  it  up  to  business, 
however  important ;  but  in  the  temper  of  the 
time  most  of  the  Commons  were  prepared  to 
make  large  sacrifices  in  the  hope  of  squelching 
the  little  band  of  irrepressible  Irishmen  who  pre- 
sumed to  air  opinions  of  their  own  in  that  assem- 
bly, and  who,  not  content  with  spurning  incorpo- 
ration, either  with  the  Tory  party  or  the  Whig, 


C.    S.    PAENELL,   M.  P.  135 

actually  dared  to  refuse  assent  to  the  notions  en- 
tertained, however  thoughtlessly  or  blindly,  by  an 
overwhelming  British  majority. 

For  a  whole  week  subsequently  every  sitting 
had  its  "scene."  The  formal  sitting  of  Saturday, 
the  21st,  came,  and  with  it  a  mob  of  British  mem- 
bers prepared  to  send  through  committee  at  racing 
speed  the  Government  Judicature  Bill.  Their 
good  intentions,  however,  were  all  in  vain.  At 
the  very  outset  they  were  met  by  a  motion  to  re- 
port progress  ;  and  then  through  long  weary  hours 
the  wrangle  between  majority  and  minority  went 
on.  It  must  be  said  of  this  day's  sitting  that  by 
no  means  such  violence  was  displayed  as  at  any 
of  the  stormy  night  scenes  ;  a  circumstance  largely 
due,  no  doubt,  to  the  fact  that  it  was  held  before 
dinner,  not  after. 

Mr.  Butt  made  a  remarkable  intervention  in 
the  tedious  debate.  He  began  by  saying  that  "he 
rose  with  feelings  of  humiliation  to  take  part  in 
this  miserable  discussion."  Although  the  gist  of 
his  speech  was  a  condemnation  of  his  own  too 
zealous  followers,  he  did  not  wholly  acquit  the 
majority  of  blame.  The  portion  of  his  remarks 
first  alluded  to  evoked  "loud  cheers"  of  course 
from  the  British  ;  but  they  did  not  appreciate  the 
second  portion  at  all  —  which  was  only  what 
might  have  been  expected.  In  spite  of  his  in- 
fluential interference  the  Saturday  sitting  might 
almost  as  well  not  have  besn  held.  But  little 


136  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

was  done  except  to  expose  more  clearly  than 
ever  the  utter  helplessness  of  the  British  House 
of  Commons  in  the  grasp  of  a  few  resolute  Irish 
members. 

The  sitting  of  MoncLoy,  the  23rd,  came,  and 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  rose  early  in  his 
place  to  propose,  in  vie'w  of  the  alarmingly  back- 
ward state  of  "the  business  of  the  House,"  that 
Tuesdays  and  Wednesdays  —  the  days  devoted  to 
the  bills  of  private  members  —  should  be  given 
up  by  them  to  the  Government  for  the  rest  of  the 
session.  Mr.  Parnell,  "  who  rose  amid  loud  and 
general  interruption,"  opposed  the  Chancellor's 
proposition,  and  in  the  course  of  his  speech  took 
occasion  to  point  out  that  the  House  was  really 
overburdened  with  work ;  that  in  its  insatiable 
appetite  for  meddling  with  the  affairs  of  other 
peoples  it  had  gorged  itself  with  business ;  and 
that  the  only  remedy  for  its  complaint  was  dis- 
gorgerneut.  He  was  informed  that  he  must  not 
discuss  the  question  of  Home  Rule  for  Ireland  on 
a  motion  for  facilitating  the  transaction  of  "  the 
business  of  the  House,"  but  he  adroitly  drove 
home  his  point  by  saying  that  it  would  be  neces- 
sary very  soon  to  take  into  consideration  the 
breaking  up  of  the  legislative  functions  of  the 
House,  and  their  redistribution  among  smaller 
bodies.  That  day  there  was  another  scene,  of 
course.  The  majority  were  in  such  a  condition  of 
mind  that  they  could  not  keep  their  tempers  for 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  137 

fifteen  minutes  at  a  time ;  but  as  the  climax  of 
violence  had  been  reached  in  the  sitting  of  the 
20th,  the  tendency  now  was  towards  outbursts  of 
wrath  less  unreasoning.  Mr.  ParnelPs  share  in 
the  inevitable  "  scene  "  was  a  warm  interposition 
in  defence  of  Mr.  O'Donnell  when  that  gentleman 
was  grossly  attacked  by  a  Tory  named  Chaplin*. 

An  incident  of  a  very  peculiar  kind  occurred  in 
the  sitting  of  Tuesday,  the  24th  July,  which, 
though  it  caused  much  laughter  in  the  House  at 
the  moment,  was  yet  added  to  the  long  list  of 
oifences  of  which  in  the  minds  of  most  of  the 
British  members  Mr.  Parnell  had  been  guilty. 
The  Irish  County  Courts  Bill  was  under  consid- 
eration in  committee  ;  the  hour  was  one  well  into 
Wednesday  morning.  Major  O'Gorman  moved 
that  progress  should  be  reported.  He  named 
Mr.  Biggar  for  his  co-teller.  The  two  gentlemen 
proceeded  to  the  lobby  of  the  "  ayes "  to  count 
those  who  were  of  opinion  that  progress  should 
be  reported.  They  were  followed  into  the  lobby 
by  but  one  solitary  member  —  Mr.  Parnell. 
Messrs  O'Gorman  and  Biggar  had  small  trouble 
in  fulfilling  their  duties  as  tellers.  Not  so  the 
Tory  whips ;  for  when  the  numbers  were  an- 
nounced there  appeared  "ayes,"  1 ;  "noes,"  147. 

The  gallant  major  was  still  unsatisfied.  No 
sooner  was  the  result  of  the  division  given  to  the 
House  than  he  moved  "that  the  chairman  do  now 
leave  the  chair."  Again  he  named  Mr.  Biggar  to 


138  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

aid  him  in  counting ;  again  that  gentleman  cheer- 
fully assented  ;  and  again  Mr.  Parnell  rose  quietly 
from  his  seat,  and  placidly  walked  alone  into  the 
lobby.  When  the  division  on  this  second  motion 
of  Major.  O'Gorman's  was  declared,  it  was  found 
that  there  was  but  one. "aye  "  against  128  "noes." 
There  was  something  so  unique,  so  sublimely 
audacious,  in  these  two  unprecedented  divisions, 
that  for  the  nonce  the  British  saw  only  a  comic 
side  to  the  affair,  and  the  announcements  of  the 
numbers  were  received  with  roars  of  laughter. 
But,  judging  from  what  happened  on  the  following 
day,  it  would  seem,  after  all,  to  have  been  bit- 
terly remembered. 

The  Government  had  a  bill  in  hands  for  form- 
ing a  confederation  in  their  South  African  colo- 
nies. They  had  also  annexed,  in  a  most  unjusti- 
fiable manner,  the  republic  of  the  Transvaal. 
Mr.  O'Donnell  had  put  down  on  the  notice  paper 
some  forty  amendments  to  the  South  African 
Confederation  Bill.  On  Wednesday,  the  25th 
of  July,  as  soon  as  the  House  was  made,  he 
moved  to  report  progress,  on  the  ground  that  the 
Government  had  given  no  clear  and  satisfactory 
explanation  of  the  annexation  of  the  Transvaal. 
As  usual,  he  was  greeted  witty  shouts  and  inter- 
ruptions, and  appeals  to  the  chair  to  declare  him 
out  of  order.  When  he  had  finished,  Mr.  Par- 
nell rose  amid  interruptions,  which  were  repeated 
and  continued  while  he  spoke.  His  observations 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  139 

were  couched  in  a  warmer  style  than  was  habitual 
to  him,  for  the  subject  was  one  on  which  he  felt 
strongly.  In  the  course  of  his  speech  he  said  : — 

"  I  feel  as  an  Irishman,  coming  from  a  country  which 
has  experienced  to  the  fullest  extent  the  result  of  Eng- 
lish interference  in  its  affairs,  and  the  consequences  of 
English  cruelty  and  tyranny,  that  I  have  a  special 
interest  in  thwarting  and  preventing  the  designs  of 
Government  upon  their  unfortunate  South  African 
colonists." 

No  sooner  were  these  words  spoken  than  Sir 
Stafford  Northcote  sprang  to  his  feet  like  a  man 
who  saw  an  opportunity  for  which  he  had  been 
looking.  He  moved  that  Mr.  Parnell's  words 
should  be  taken  down,  and  the  Speaker  of  the 
House  sent  for.  These  grave  ceremonies  having 
been  properly  performed,  the  words  were  duly 
reported  to  the  Speaker.  That  functionary 
"turned  eagerly  upon  Mr.  Parnell  for  an  explana- 
tion, but  Mr.  Parnell  placidly  looked  on,  and 
made  no  sign  of  rising.  After  being  more  than 
once  invited  to  speak,  the  honorable  member  at 
length  rose,  and  soon  all  the  previous  excitement 
was  child's  play  to  what  ensued.  In  the  most 
determined  manner  he  defended  himself,  and, 
using  language  which  greatly  irritated  the  Minis- 
terialists, he  was  called  upon  by  the  Speaker  to 
desist  and  withdraw." 

When  a  member  of  the  London  Parliament  is 
about  to  be  tried  by  his  peers,  the  strange  custom 


140  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

of  the  place  is  to  send  him  out  and  try  him  behind 
his  back.  Mr.  Parnell  left  the  House  proper,  as 
desired,  and  proceeded  to  one  of  the  galleries, 
where  he  quietly  sat  observing  all  that  subse- 
quently passed  below.  We  take  from  a  London 
correspondent  the  following  description  of  the 
scene  which  ensued  :  — 

"  The  moment  Mr.  Parnell  had  gone,  the  Chancellor 
improved  the  opportunity  by  giving  his  version  of  the 
occurrence,  and  ended  by  making  a  proposal  —  that 
Mr.  Parnell,  having  wilfully  and  persistently  obstructed 
public  business,  be  suspended  from  the  service  of  the 
House  until  Friday  next.  In  his  hasty  and  feeble  way 
it  was  at  once  seen  that  the  Chancellor  had  not  hit  the 
mark  at  which  he  aimed,  and  a  murmur  of  triumphant 
satisfaction  ran  along  the  Irish  ranks  —  now  greatly 
recruited  when  it  was  found  that  a  deliberate  onslaught 
had  been  made  on  one  of  their  number.  Mr.  Sullivan, 
ever  ready  to  fill  the  Irish  gap,  sprang  to  the  rescue  of 
the  member  for  Meath,  adopted  for  himself  the  very 
words  which  had  disturbed  the  soul  of  Sir  Stafford 
Northcote,  and  challenged  the  Government  to  take  his 
words  clown.  With  exquisite  perception  of  the  truth, 
Mr.  Sullivan  demonstrated  to  the  House  that  which 
was  clear  enough,  indeed,  to  those  who  had  watched 
the  entire  tactics  of  the  Government  throughout  the 
clay  —  namely,  that  the  Chancellor  wished  to  punish 
Mr.  Parnell,  not  for  what  he  had  said  that  day,  but  for 
his  conduct  on  previous  occasions,  and  which  was  not 
on  record.  Another  heavy  blow  came  upon  the  Gov- 
ernment from  a  quarter  they  little  suspected.  Who 
was  it  that  dared  from  the  front  Opposition  bench 


C.    S.    PARXELL,    M.  P.  .        141 

directly  facing  Mr.  Hardy,  to  cast  in  the  teeth  of  that 
very  Hotspur  of  obstruction  his  famous  avowal  to 
'  thwart '  all  the  efforts  of  the  late  Ministry  to.  cany 
out  its  army  reforms ?  Mr.  Knatchbull-Hugessen,  ex- 
Lord  of  the  Treasury,  and  ex-Under  Secretary  for  the 
Home  Department.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  chairman 
peered  through  his  spectacles,  or  nervously  wrung  his 
hands.  It  was  in  vain  that,  with  the  hot  blood  rushiug 
up  to  his  face,  Mr.  Hardy  impatiently  shook  his  head. 
Mr.  Hugessen  dilated  with  great  precision  on  the  well- 
remembered  tactics,  and  not  once  or  twice,  but  on 
dozens  of  occasions,  of  members  of  the  present  Govern- 
ment to  obstruct  the  measures  of  the  late  Ministiy. 
The  discussion  then  became  general,  and  it  was  soon 
made  apparent  that  the  mine  sprung  by  the  Govern- 
ment so  far  had  been  sprung  in  vain.  The  Chancellor 
at  last  was  compelled  slowly  to  give  ground,  for  the 
Speaker  announced  that  Mr.  Parnell  was  entitled  to 
take  his  place  in  the  House  until  Friday." 

So  the  consideration  of  the  Chancellor's  penal 
proposal  against  Mr.  Parnell  was  postponed  for 
two  days,  when  that  most  aggravating  of  Irish 
members  was  at  last  to  be  brought  to  book,  to 
the  great  joy  of  the  now  triumphant  majority. 

"The  battle  is  not  always  to  the  strong,"  accord- 
ing to  the  proverb  ;  and  in  the  encounter  between 
Mr.  Parnell  and  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
supported  as  the  latter  was  by  the  mass  of  the 
Commons,  the  wise  paradox  received  ample  justi- 
fication. The  Chancellor  was  worsted,  arid  knew 
that  he  was.  So,  too,  knew  every  man  in  the 


142  C.    S.    PARNELL,  11.  P. 

House  who  still  retained  even  a  remnant  of 
reason.  The  member  for  Meuth,  calmly  survey- 
ing from  the  gallery  overhead  the  remarkable 
scene  taking  place  on  the  floor  beneath  him, 
heard  the  Speaker's  decision  that  he  was  at  liberty 
to  resume  his  place  in  the  House.  Thereupon  he 
left  the  gallery,  and  walked  quietly  towards  the 
bench  usually  occupied  by  him.  Though  aware 
that  he  had  won  an  undoubted  victory,  and  that 
he  had  had  besides  the  gratification  of  opening 
out  his  mind  about  the  Ministerialists  pretty  freely 
to  them,  he  wore  no  air  of  triumph  as  he  went  up 
the  floor.  Eather,  indeed,  his  mien  was  that  of 
gentlemanly,  if  not  studied,  unostentatiou. 

He  did  not,  however,  take  his  seat  when  he 
went  in.  He  had  had  possession  of  the  floor 
at  the  time  of  the  Chancellor's  interruption ;  he 
had  not  been  allowed  to  conclude  his  speech ; 
and  now,  after  the  lapse  of  an  hour  spent  in  dis- 
cussing his  words  and  conduct,  he  proceeded  to 
finish  the  remarks  he  had  originally  intended  to 
make.  He  went  on,  in  truth,  precisely  as  if  there 
had  been  no  interruption  whatever ;  and  he 
amazed  all,  while  amusing  many,  by  taking  up  his 
speech  at  the  exact  point  where  he  had  left  off — 
absolutely  at  the  very  words  where  he  had  been 
checked  —  "and,"  says  a  newspaper  correspon- 
dent of  the  time,  "bore  himself  with  all  the 
calmness  of  a  judge  amid  the  uproar." 

The  Marquis  of  Hartiugton,  leader  of  the  "Whig 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  143 

Opposition,  and  possible  leader  of  the  House  in 
the  event  of  a  change  of  Ministry,  was  natunilly 
as  anxious  to  quell  Mr.  Parnell  as  Sir  Stafford 
Northcote  himself  could  be ;  but  he  was  just  as 
anxious  that  that  should  be  done  without  at  the 
same  time  doing  vital  injury  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons itself.  Therefore,  as  Sir  Stafford  had  placed 
himself  in  a  false  position  by  his  rashness  of  the 
25th  July,  the  Marquis  obligingly  came  to  his  aid 
at  the  sitting  of  Thursday,  the  26th,  by  mildly 
suggesting  that  the  personal  aspect  of  the  obstruc- 
tion question  should  be  wholly  dropped.  A  capi- 
tal suggestion  this  was  for  the  Chancellor,  seeing 
that  he  could  have  made  nothing  of  his  charge 
against  Mr.  Parnell ;  so  Sir  Stafford  in  the  most 
amiable  manner  adopted  the  idea  of  his  right  hon- 
orable friend  the  noble  marquis,  and  announced 
that  instead  of  proceeding  against  the  honorable 
member  for  Meath  on  the  morrow  he  would  bring 
forward  some  resolutions  dealing  in  a  general  way 
with  the  facilitation  of  "the  business  of  the 
House."  In  all  probability  this  little  Parliament- 
ary farce,  which  went  off  with  great  eclat,  had 
been  arranged  beforehand  between  the  right 
honorable  baronet  and  the  equally  right  honorable 
marquis. 

The  morrow  came,  Friday,  the  27th  July,  and 
the  resolutions  of  the  Chancellor  were 'duly  put 
before  the  House.  One  provided  that  if  a  mem- 
ber were  twice  declared  out  of  order  by  the 


144  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

Speaker  or  the  chairman  of  committees,  it  should 
be  in  the  power  of  the  House  to  muzzle  him  by 
suspending  the  debate  and  summarily  silencing 
him  during  the  remainder  of  the  sitting.  The 
other  provided  that  it  should  not  be  in  the  power 
of  any  member  to  move  more  than  once  that  the 
chairman  do  report  progress,  or  that  the  chairman 
do  leave  the  chair.  The  first  as  well  as  the  second 
of  these  rules  was  meant  to  work  practically  only 
while  the  House  sat  in  committee,  for  then  it  was 
that  the  new  Irish  scheme  of  Parliamentary  tactics 
could  be  best  developed. 

Hours  on  hours  of  discussion  of  these  proposals 
followed  their  introduction  ;  for  the  more  thought- 
ful among  the  British  members  were  loath  to  part, 
even  for  the  remainder  of  the  session,  with  val- 
uable privileges  of  which  they  themselves  might 
be  anxious  to  avail  themselves  at  any  moment. 
The  one  circumstance  of  the  discussion  which  as- 
tonished and  disturbed  the  faithful  Commons  was, 
that  all  the  prominent  "obstructives"  rose  to  tell 
the  House  that  they  had  not  the  faintest  idea  of 
offering  opposition  to  the  proposed  rules.  It  had 
naturally  been  expected  that  they  would  resist  to 
the  utmost  what  was  so  transparently  an  effort  to 
make  a  net  in  which  to  catch  them  ;  and  when, 
instead  of  resisting,  they  seemed  rather  to  enjoy 
the  process  of  manufacture  going  on  before  their 
eye^s,  an  uneasy  feeling  began  to  prevail  in  the 
bosom  of  many  a  British  member  that  the  Chan- 


C.    S.  -PARNELL,    M.  P.  145 

cellor's  meshes  would  prove  unequal  to  their  pur- 
pose. Nevertheless  the  Minister's  blindly  obedient 
majority  obeyed  his  will,  and  the  Chancellor's 
proposals  at  length  became  formally  "rules  of  the 
House"  for  the  rest  of  the  session  of  1877.  Here 
we  may  state,  however,  that  the  only  one  who 
came  under  the  operation  of  either  of  them  was  a 
British  member — poor  Mr.  Whalley,  to  wit — and 
that  in  applying  the  first  rule  to  him  the  Speaker 
made  a  ludicrous  blunder  which  put  his  own  pro- 
ceeding wholly  out  of  order,  and  brought  down 
general  ridicule  on  "the  new  rules."  What  effect 
those  rules  had  in  restraining  "the  obstructives" 
will  presently  be  seen. 

The  sessions  of  the  London  Parliament  usually 
close  before  the  middle  of  August,  to  allow  of 
noble  lords  and  honorable  and  right  honorable 
gentlemen  being  on  the  moors  in  time  for  the 
opening  of  the  shooting  season  —  an  arrangement 
which  is  obviously  less  for  the  convenience  of 
legislation  than  of  the  legislators.  Lo  !  August 
was  at  hand,  and  the  Government's  pet  project, 
the  South  African  Confederation  Bill,  had  still  to 
go  through  most  of  its  stages.  Ministers  felt  that 
"  something  must  be  done  "  in  earnest  at  this  con- 
juncture. Monday,  the  30th  July,  passed  away, 
and  the  South  African  Bill,  had  virtually  made  no 
progress.  The  dreadful  member  for  Dungarvan 
and  his  small  band  of  colleagues  stood  in  the  way. 
Need  it  be  said  that  Mr.  Parnell  was  one  of  them? 


146  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

Tuesday,   the   31st  July,    disclosed    the    notable 
"something"  which  had  been  evolved. 

Anything  better  calculated  to  render  Parlia- 
mentary institutions  worthless,  to  bring  them  into 
just  contempt,  and  to  make  men  inclined  to  turn 
from  them  towards  some  form  of  intelligent  des- 
potism, can  hardly  be  conceived  than  the  plan  put 
in  force  on  the  31st  July.  The  Conservative 
members  were  divided  into  batches,  each  batch 
told  off  to  appear  in  the  House  during  certain 
hours  of  the  evening  and  night.  Thus  a  system 
of  relays  was  constituted,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
relieve  each  other  at  stated  periods,  and  so  avoid 
too  much  fatigue  for  any.  It  was  perfectly  un- 
derstood from  the  first  that  their  business  was, 
not  to  discuss  the  provisions  of  the  South  African 
Bill,  but  to  pass  them.  Many  Whig  members  lent 
themselves  to  this  conspiracy,  moved  thereto  by 
the  good  old  Sassenach  intolerance  of  Irish  liber- 
ties. Some  of  the  Home  Rule  party,  with  the 
spaniel's  instinct,  did  likewise.  Every  necessary 
preparation  had  been  made  to  keep  up  the  strength 
of  the  Government  men.  Meat  and  drink  were 
provided  for  them  regardless  of  expense.  Sup- 
per for  those  who  remained  about  the  lobbies  for 
divisions  in  the  night,  and  breakfast  for  those  ex- 
pected early  in  the  morning,  were  ordered  by  the 
Government  whip.  Such  toothsome  delicacies  as 
grilled  bones,  devilled  kidneys,  and  spatchcocks 
figured  largely  on  the  dining-rooin  tables.  Copi- 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  147 

ous  supplies  of  champagne  were  there  to  keep  up 
the  fighting  spirit  of  the  Saxon  host.  No  doubt 
it  hud  that  effect  as  the  hours  flew  by ;  but  it  had 
the  effect  also  of  making  honorable  members 
more  uproarious  than  they  might  otherwise  have 
been. 

The  struggle  began  at  about  five  o'clock  on 
Tuesday  evening,  Mr.  O'Donnell,  in  right  of  his 
scores  of  amendments,  leading  the  assault.  The 
Irish,  all  told,  numbered  just  seven.  Mr.  Butt 
sided  with  the  Government  and  the  majority,  and 
bitterly  assailed  the  colleagues  who  were  too  active 
for  his  wishes.  He  publicly  denied  in  the  House 
that  they  were  members  of  the  Irish  party,  and 
declared  that  if  he  thought  their  conduct  received 
the  sanction  of  their  countrymen  he  would  retire 
from  Irish  politics  as  from  "a  vulgar  brawl." 
Yet  he  should  not  be  judged  too  harshly.  His 
early  conservative  training  could  not  but  have 
left  some  warp  in  his  ideas. 

All  night  long  the  contest  went  on.  The  chair- 
man of  committees  was  relieved  by  a  deputy,  who 
in  turn  was  relieved  by  another,  who  in  turn  was 
relieved  by  still  another,  who  in  turn  was  relieved 
by  the  chairman  in  person.  Every  amendment 
proposed  was  iguorautly  defeated,  when  brought 
to  a  division,  by  a  swarm  of  British  members  who 
had  not  heard  a  word  of  the  reasons  urged  in  favor 
of  the  amendments,  but  who  rushed  into  the 
House  with  the  sole  and  deliberate  purpose  of 


148  C.    S.    PAENELL,    M.  IT. 

voting  down  any  and  every  proposal  that  came 
from  the  Irish  seven. 

As  might  be  expected,  Mr.  Parnell  took  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  the  fray.  In  the  course  of  the 
night,  in  language  which  the  newspaper  corres- 
pondents characterized  as  of  extraordinary  bold- 
ness, he  taunted  the  Englishmen  with  their  love 
of  boasting,  sneered  at  "  English  fair  play,"  told 
them  it  was  best  exemplified  in  their  national 
custom  of  kicking  a  man  when  down,  and  de- 
scribed them  as  "big  bullies,"  who,  like  all  bullies, 
shrank  when  they  were  met  with  determination. 
It  need  hardly  be  added  that  such  plain  and 
truthful  speaking  was  not  at  all  to  the  taste  of 
those  who  heard  it ;  but  they  had  to  swallow  it  as 
best  they  could. 

This  was  just  the  occasion  on  which  to  test  the 
value  of  the  "  new  rules."  Strange  to  say,  how- 
ever, the  Irish  members  kept  wonderfully  within 
the  bounds  of  order,  while  such  of  their  British 
opponents  as  ventured  to  speak  at  all  were  con- 
stantly tripping  up,  and  one  after  another,  amid 
general  mortification,  had  to  withdraw  and  to 
apologize  for  his  unparliamentary  expressions. 
As  if  to  crown  the  absurdity  of  the  anti-obstruc- 
tion devices,  and  to  put  a  climax  of  ridicule  on 
those  doings  of  "  the  assembled  wisdom  of  the 
country,"  the  very  chairman  himself  got  out  of 
order,  made  a  ruling  antagonistic  to  the  Irish 
which  was  at  once  challenged,  and  was  con- 


C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P.  149 

strained  to  withdraw  it  and  to  say,  "I  beg  your 
pardon,"  to  the  infinite  grief  of  the  wildly  excited 
but  thoroughly  humiliated  mob  of  Britishers.  To 
Mr.  Edmund  Dwyer  Gray,  then  in  his  best  days 
as  an  Irish  politician,  was  due  a  result  so  provo- 
cative of  inextinguishable  laughter. 

The  wear  and  tear  of  this  most  harassing  ses- 
sion had  for  some  time  been  telling  on  Mr.  Par- 
nell.  The  London  correspondent  of  the  Newcastle 
Chronicle,  who  is  understood  to  be  no  other  than 
Mr.  Joseph  Coweu,  M.  P.,  for  Newcastle-ou-Tyne, 
•writing  a  little  while  before  this  famous  scene  at 
Westminster,  describes  him  as  looking  much  worn, 
and  as  having  aged  wonderfully  in  appearance 
within  a  comparatively  short  time.  Though  his 
strength  was  failing  he  held  on  resolutely  all 
through  the  night,  saw  the  sun  rise  and  the  gas 
turned  off;  and  not  till  a  quarter  past  eight  in  the 
morning,  after  fifteen  hours  of  incessant  labor, 
mental  and  vocal,  protracted  struggle,  unending 
uproar,  and  unbroken  excitement,  did  he  retire 
from  the  arena  to  take  a  much  needed  rest. 
Others  had  preceded  him,  and  had  returned  to 
their  posts.  But  he  did  not  remain  long  away. 
Four  hours  later,  at  a  quarter  past  twelve,  he  was 
again  by  the  side  of  his  few  colleagues ;  and 
thenceforward  until  the  last  division  was  taken, 
after  a  sitting  of  the  unprecedented  duration  of 
twenty-six  hours,  he  continued  with  them  tho 
unequal  fight. 


150  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

It  should  be  noted  here,  as  a  very  interesting 
incident  of  this  famous  sitting  of  the  British  Par- 
liament, that  Miss  Fanny  Parnell,  one  of  the  high- 
spirited  sisters  of  the  member  for  Meath,  sat  all 
night  long  in  the  ladies'  gallery  of  the  Commons 
chamber,  a  listener  to  and  a  spectator  of  what  was 
going  forward  below.  The  lady's  strong  Irish 
sympathies  and  high-souled  courage  are  very  gen- 
erally known  by  this  time. 

Another  notable  incident  of  the  twenty-six 
hours'  sitting  may  be  recalled.  There  is  a  chap- 
lain attached  to  the  House  of  Commons,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  prepare  with  prayer  the  business  of 
each  sitting  —  an  ironical  proceeding  some  may 
think.  He  came  down  to  the  House  at  twelve 
o'clock  on  Wednesday,  book  in  hand,  to  perform 
his  functions  in  the  ordinary  course  at  a  day  sit- 
ting. His  astonishment  may  be  imagined  when 
he  found  the  night  sitting  of  Tuesday  still  in  full 
swing  at  noonday  on  Wednesday;  and  he  pre- 
cipitately beat  a  retreat. 

The  Government  had  carried  their  point.  They 
had  forced  the  South  African  Confederation  Bill 
through  committee ;  but  they  had  done  so  at  the 
cost  of  depriving  the  House  of  Commons  of  all 
character  as  a  deliberative  assembly.  Very  soon 
they  were  made  to  know  that.  Every  journal  in 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  was  ringing  with  the 
twenty-six  hours'  fight  j  and  though,  of  course, 
the  British  writers  at  first  and  chiefly  showered 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  151 

blame  on  the  heads  of  the  Irish  "obstructives," 
yet  the  conspirators  against  freedom  of  debate 
came  in  for  the  gravest  censure.  Englishmen  are 
as  jealous  of  their  hard-won  national  liberties 
as  they  are  impatient  of  the  liberties  of  other 
peoples  ;  and  from  all  sides  came  down  a  very 
hail  of  denunciation  on  the  Government  for  dar- 
ing to  overturn,  by  the  system  of  "relays,"  the 
whole  constitution  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
causing  it  to  violate  its  duty  of  deliberating  on 
legislative  projects.  Thus  the  latest  weapon 
fashioned  for  the  crushing  of  the  new  Irish  tactics 
was  discovered  to  be  more  fatal  to  British  freedom 
than  to  "  obstruction  ;  "  consequently  it  was  never 
more  emploj*ed. 

Again,  the  Irish,  with  their  accustomed  skill, 
had  selected  for  their  operations  a  subject  which 
was  certain  to  afford  them  ample  justification 
for  the  most  strenuous  opposition.  The  annexa- 
tion of  the  Transvaal  and  the  South  African  Con- 
federation Act  were  between  them  responsible  for 
the  Zulu  war,  with  its  bloody  episodes  and  its 
disgraceful  disasters  of  Isandnla  and  the  Into m hi 

D 

river,  as  well  as  for  the  heavy  pecuniary  costs 
involved  —  costs  which  must  come  out  of  the 
pockets  chiefly  of  British  taxpayers.  Nor  is  it 
by  any  means  certain,  at  the  time  of  this  writing, 
that  all  trouble  for  the  British  empire  is  at  an  end 
in  South  Africa.  It  may  be  a  long  while  ere  the 
Boers  are  content  to  remain  in  that  South  African 


152  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

Confederation  with  which  they  were  so  violently 
incorporated. 

About  the  beginning  of  August  London  ed- 
itors made  a  singular  discovery.  They  had 
previously  been  accustomed  to  refer  to  Mr.  Par- 
nell  as  a  man  wholly  without  capacity,  who  had 
achieved  a  bad  notoriety  by  a  series  of  wanton 
outrages  against  "the  tone  of  the  House."  All 
of  a  sudden,  however,  they  found  out  that  he  was 
a  man  of  "undoubted  ability,"  who  showed  great 
skill  in  selecting  the  subjects  he  brought  before 
the  House  aforesaid,  great  clearness  in  present-- 
ing  his  views,  and  great  adroitness  in  utilizing 
the  forms  of  Parliament.  He  was  spoken  of 
kindly  as  a  young  man  who  had  a  splendid  career 
open  to  him  if  he  would  employ  his  undoubted 
ability  in  less  aggravating  ways,  and  would  not 
set  himself  in  violent  opposition  to  the  House. 
Why,  it  was  hinted,  he  might  before  long  actually 
be  a  Cabinet  Minister  of  the  British  Empire.  A 
man  with  his  gifts  might  aspire  to  almost  any 
post.  In  other  words,  if  he  would  only  throw 
over  Ireland,  accept  the  Union,  and  settle  down  to 
work  as  a  British  party-man,  he  would  in  the  end 
be  duly  rewarded  with  "  a  place."  Charles  Stewart 
Parnell,  nevertheless,  heeded  as  little  this  British 
soft  sawder  as  he  heeded  the  uproar  to  which 
British  members  of  Parliament  nightly  treated 
him.  He  went  on  his  own  way  without  pause 
or  falter,  offering,  with  Mr.  O'Donnell  and  others, 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  153 

amendments  to  the  Prisons  Bill  and  the  South  Af- 
rican Bill  to  the  last,  some  of  which  were  so  ob- 
viously valuable  that  the  Government  accepted 
them.  Nay,  a  few  nights  after  the  twenty-six 
hours'  fight  he  calmly  "talked  out"  the  Expiring 
Laws  Continuance  Bill — a  Government  measure 
of  the  very  first  importance  —  the  feat  evoking 
only  unutterable  horror.  It  was  too  much. 
Words  —  nay,  even  brayings  —  could  not  express 
what  was  felt  on  the  occasion. 

The  strong  language  in  which  Mr.  Butt  indulged 
in  the  debate  on  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  August 
expressed  his  real  feelings,  and  he  soon  made  an 
effort  to  procure  the  expulsion  from  the  Irish  Par- 
liamentary party  of  those  members  who  had  the 
temerity  to  defy  English  public  opinion  and  to 
show  the  most  utter  disregard  for  "  the  tone  of  the 
House."  It  should  be  remembered  for  him  that 
he  was  then  fast  failing  both  in  mind  and  body,  that 
he  was  constitutionally  averse  from  anything  in  the 
nature  of  resolute  fighting,  and  that,  besides,  the 
training  of  a  life,  most  of  which  was  passed  in 
nisi  prius  courts,  inclined  him  to  persuasion  and 
argument  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  ends. 
If  he  were  so  wanting  in  sagacity  as  to  regard  the 
British  Parliament  as  though  it  were  an  enormous 
jury  sworn  to  do  justice  according  to  the  evidence, 
there  was  much  excuse  for  him.  His  effort  to 
expel  Mr.  Parnell  and  his  friends  wholly  failed  at 
the  meeting  of  the  Irish  party  called  for  that  ex- 


154  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

press  purpose.  Even  though  Mr.  Butt  threatened 
to  resign  his  leadership,  if  his  wishes  were  not 
complied  with,  the  meeting  broke  up  without 
doing  anything  or  coming  to  any  decision  on  the 
question  before  them. 

In  Ireland  the  course  pursued  by  Mr.  Parnell 
and  his  friends  was  not  only  understood  but  thor- 
oughly approved  of;  and  when  it  came  to  be 
known  that  efforts  were  being  made  by  Mr.  Butt 
to  crush  the  fighting  men  of  his  own  following,  it 
was  deemed  judicious  to  give  him  some  unmistak- 
able inkling  of  the  popular  judgment  on  the  sub- 
ject in  dispute.  Accordingly  a  public  meeting  in 
honor  of  Messrs.  Parnell  and  Biggar  was  pro- 
jected in  Dublin,  to  be  held  in  the  historic  Round 
Eoom  of  the  Rotundo.  The  committee  of  man- 
agement early  foresaw  that  some  mode  of  check- 
ing the  rush  that  would  be  made  on  the  room  the 
night  of  the  meeting  was  an  absolute  necessity. 
Admission  by  ticket  only  was  resorted  to.  The 
demand  for  tickets  was  amazing.  All  classes, 
rich  and  poor,  high  and  low,  made  application  ; 
even  numerous  civil  servants  eagerly  sought  for 
them  that  they  might  secure  admission. 

The  most  remarkable  session  of  the  ^British 
Parliament  for  over  a  century  came  to  an  end  on 
the  13th  of  August,  1877.  The  Rotundo  meeting 
followed  on  the  21st  of  the  same  month.  Even 
under  the  ticket  system  every  part  of  the  vast 
hall — platform,  floor,  and  gallery — was  over- 


C.    S.    PAENELL,    M.  P.  155 

crowded.  The  scene  when  the  two  guests  of  the 
evening  came  on  the  platform  was  such  as  was 
never  previously  witnessed^  there  or  elsewhere, 
by  the  present  generation.  Such  wild  enthusi- 
asm, such  unbounded  delight,  such  universal 
cheering,  prolonged  for  ten  minutes,  such  waving 
of  hats  in  air  by  strong-armed  men,  such  fluttering 
of  snowy  handkerchiefs  by  bright-eyed  women  — 
such  a  scene  as  this  is  seldom  witnessed  more  than 
once  in  a  life-time.  A  forest  of  hats  moved  to 
and  fro  over  the  densely  packed  mass  on  the 
great  platform  ;  and  in  front  of  that  black  moving 
mass  there  stood,  erect,  unwavering,  a  tall  slight 
figure,  presenting  a  pale  quiet  face  with  set 
features,  which  might  have  caused  an  observer  to 
think  that  their  owner  was  stirred  by  no  emotion 
whatever,  either  through  the  thrilling  sight  before 
him  or  the  yet  more  thrilling  sounds  of  joy  and 
welcome  which  tore  the  air  incessantly,  but  that 
now  and  again  a  soft  light  came  and  went  in  the 
bright  brown  eyes.  And  when  the  cheering 
within  the  room  had  died  away,  lo  !  more  mighty 
still  in  volume  came  the  hurrahing  of  the  many 
thousands  outside  the  building,  who,  unable  to 
effect  an  entrance,  were  yet  eager  to  join  their 
voices  with  those  of  the  more  fortunate  within,  in 

• 

an  overpowering  demonstration  of  welcome  to 
Parnell  and  Biggar,  the  two  exemplars  of  faithful 
Irish  representatives.  Dublin  liad  spoken  on  the 


156  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

issue  raised  by  Mr.  Butt,  and  her  verdict  was  em- 
phatically with  Mr.  Parnell. 

The  capital  of  a  nation  may  not  be  in  strict 
accord;  either  politically  or  morally,  with  the  rest 
of  the  country.  Provincial  places  usually  move 
more  slowly  than  metropolitan  ones ;  provincial 
people  do  not  catch  up  new  ideas  in  u  hurry. 
Dublin  indeed  had  spoken ;  but  the  voice  of  the 
provinces  had  yet  to  be  heard  in  judgment  on  the 
new  Parliamentary  policy  before  any  one  could 
assume  that  it  had  the  approval  of  the  country. 
Yet  so  rapidly  did  this  policy  commend  itself  to 
the  national  intelligence  that  within  a  few  weeks 
Mr.  Parnell  was  invited  to  and  honored  at  public 
meetings  and  banquets  by  several  provincial  dis- 
tricts, the  old  fortress-town  of  Kilmallock  spir- 
itedly leading  the  way.  Wherever,  in  fact,,  the 
people  were  given  the  opportunity  of  making  a 
pronouncement,  it  was  emphatically  on  the  side  of 
Parnell  as  against  Butt. 

That  circumstance,  however,  did  not  prevent 
Mr.  Butt  from  retaining  much  influential  support 
for  the  "  fair-and-easy  "  method  he  himself  favored. 
He  had  too  often  branded  as  "revolutionary"  the 
more  active  and  persistent  one  not  to  have  had  a 
following  among  the  large  number  of  people  who, 
in  Ireland  as  elsewhere,  shrink  from  a  course 
which  they  regard  as  violent. 

Nevertheless  Mr.  Butt  must  have  felt  that  the 
sceptre  was  slipping  from  his  grasp ;  that  his  title 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  157 

of  leader  was  scarcely  more  than  nominal ;  that 
his  power  over  the  Irish  people,  whether  to  spur 
forward  or  restrain,  was  fast  ebbing  away.  It 
was  a  mortifying  position  for  the  great  old  man, 
and  its  bitterness  must  have  been  aggravated  by 
the  consciousness  of  failing  health.  His  step  was 
even  then  growing  slow  and  heavy ;  his  great 
frame,  massive  as  an  oak-tree's  trunk,  had  fallen 
far  forward  at  the  shoulders  ;  the  movement  of 
his  big  heart  was  feeble,  and  his  pulses  made  less 
Healthful  music  than  of  yore.  Worse  than  all, 
the  splendid  intellect,  once  so  strong  and  so 
versatile,  and  on  which  a  great  question  seemed 
to  lie  as  lightly  as  a  pebble  in  a  giant's  palm,  was 
giving  way,  was  wearing  down,  was  losing  both 
power  and  elasticity.  And  the  soul  of  the  old 
man  was  grieved  exceedingly. 

In  the  hope  of  still  effecting  good  with  the  Irish 
Parliamentary  party,  he  consented,  although  re- 
luctantly, to  the  holding  of  a  national  conference 
for  the  purpose  of  settling  the  vexed  question  of 
policy.  While  waiting  for  the  assembling  of  this 
conference  the  year  1877  passed  away. 

In  January,  1878,  the  conference  was  duly 
held.  A  majority  of  those  present,  as  well  as  all 
the  weighty  argument,  was  so  plainly  on  the  side 
of  the  new  tactics  that  the  prominent  supporters 
of  the  old  did  not  dare  to  take  a  division  on  the 
question  in  dispute  ;  and  a  compromise  —  sug- 
gested by  Mr.  Parnell,  who  did  not  want  to  break 


158  O.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

up  or  divide  the  Parliamentary  party,  but  only  to 
put  some  earnestness  into  it  —  was  effected.  Mr. 
Butt  could  not  but  have  felt  that  he  had  sustained 
a  defeat ;  and  the  feeling  was  not  calculated  to 
lighten  his  vexation  at  the  course  affairs  were  and 
had  been  taking.  In  a  little  while  he  formally 
resigned  the  leadership  of  the  party,  but  resumed 
it,  at  least  nominally,  on  the  request  of  the  mem- 
bers. When,  later  on,  he  resigned  the  post  of 
president  of  the  Home  Kule  Confederation,  driven 
thereto  by  the  repeated  declarations  of  branches 
of  that  body  in  favor  of  the  new  policy,  and  when 
on  the  instant  Mr.  Parnell  was  unanimously 
elected  his  successor,  the  cup  of  bitterness  must 
have  been  filled  for  him,  and  only  a  rancorous  or 
a  dull  cold  heart  could  refuse  him  pity  and  sym- 
pathy. He  had  made  large  sacrifices  of  time  and 
money  for  Ireland,  doing  the  best  for  her  accord- 
ing to  his  lights ;  he  had  given  stupendous  labor 
in  the  drawing  up  of  Irish  bills  and  the  like ;  he 
had  devoted  several  of  the  best  years  of  his  life 
with  great  earnestness  and  energy  to  the  further- 
ance of  Irish  popular  interests  in  many  ways ; 
yet,  on  the  one  hand,  he  found  that  in  spite  of 
his  numerous  appeals  to  them  a  majority  of  the 
Irish  Parliamentary  party,  while  claiming  to  be 
truly  his  followers,  would  not  work  steadily  with 
him,  and  in  important  crises  were  ever  ready  to 
split  up  into  tails  of  the  two  great  British  factions.; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  because  he  was  so  unwise 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  159 

as  to  identify  himself  completely  with  that  worth- 
less majority,  who  would  neither  be  led  nor  driven 
to  do  right,  he  found  the  masses  of  the  Irish  peo- 
ple falling  away  from  him  and  enthusiastically 
enrolling  themselves  under  the  banners  of  the  men 
for  whom  his  strongest  denunciations  had  been 
reserved.  Who  could  envy  him  the  feelings  he 
must  have  had  on  awakening  to  the  consciousness 
of  desertion  on  both  sides,  while  he  himself  fully 
believed  that  the  desertion  on  either  was  wholly 
undeserved?  Justice  to  his  memory!  Even 
though  he  employed  the  brief  remainder  of  his 
life  and  the  remnant  of  his  decaying  powers  rather 
in  a  struggle  to  retain  the  leadership  from  which 
the  popular  will  had  virtually  deposed  him,  than 
in  serious  effort  for  the  interest  of  the  country  of 
his  birth  and  his  love,  we  can  still  wish  that  the 
clay  may  rest  lightly  on  his  breast,  in  that  lone 
humble  grave  in  sea- washed  Donegal,  where  he 
chose  that  his  body  should  mingle  with  Irish 
earth. 

When  Mr.  Parnell  entered  the  London  Parlia- 
ment in  1878  his  position  was  an  infinitely  stronger 
one  than  it  had  theretofore  been.  He  was  no  longer 
an  individual  member  struggling  against  an  over- 
bearing and  intolerant  majority.  Pie  had  acquired 
something  of  the  character  of  a  national  representa- 
tive. His  previous  action  had  been  sufficiently 
endorsed  to  give  him  much  more  than  individual 
influence.  All  through  the  session  of  1878,  there- 


160  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

fore,  though  he  still  worked  in  the  grooves  he  had 
previously  made,  extraordinary  scenes  were  not 
the  ordinary  result  of  his  proceedings.  On  the 
contrary,  the  Government  were  inclined  to  con- 
ciliate him  to  a  large  extent,  much  to  the  disgust 
of  many  of  their  stupid  followers,  who  thought 
that  hanging  would  be  too  mild  a  fate  for  "  that 
Irish  fellow."  The  British  press  still  harped  on 
"obstruction,"  and  Mr.  Parnell  was  actually  desig- 
nated publicly  "a  curse  to  the  kingdom"  —the 
kingdom  referred  to,  we  need  hardly  say,  being 
Great  Britain. 

At  length,  so  intolerable  to  the  British  Parlia- 
ment and  Government  had  the  situation  grown,  a 
Parliamentary  committee  was  appointed  to  con- 
sider how  best  an  end  could  be  put  to  "obstruc- 
tion." Mr.  ParnelPs  firm  position  in  the  House 
was  recognized  by  the  Government  placing  him 
on  this  committee.  While  serving  on  it  he  com- 
pletely baffled  every  effort  made  towards  showing 
that  he  and  the  few  who  acted  with  him  had  been 
at  all  in  the  wrong.  He  also  established  the  fu- 
tility of  striving  to  restrain  him  even  a  little  in 
the  future,  except  by  the  adoption  of  some  method 
which  must  restrain-  British  members  also,  and  so 
be  hurtful  to  Parliament  itself.  In  short,  so  skil- 
ful were  the  questions  he  put  to  the  various  wit- 
nesses, and  so  ably  did  he  expose  the  fact  that  the 
real  drift  of  the  inquiry  was  to  repress  only  such 
Irish  members  as  stood  up  manfully  for  their 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  1G1 

country,  that  the  British  press  positively  took  to 
complimenting  him,  praised  him  for  his  ability, 
his  wisdom,  and  his  mastery  of  Parliamentary 
procedure,  and  suggested  to  the  Ministry  that  he 
should  be  often  appointed  on  committees  of  the 
House,  where  he  could  do  most  useful  work,  and 
at  the  same  time  be  kept  occupied  in  such  a  way 
as  to  prevent  him  from  delaying  the  ordinary 
business  of  Parliament. 

Undisturned,  either  by  censure  or  flattery,  he 
continued  his  labors  persistently,  amazing  all,  not 
only  by  the  vast  number  of  subjects  he  took  up, 
but  by  the  fulness  of  his  knowledge  regarding 
each.  There  was  no  stopping  him,  because  he  al- 
ways spoke  clearly  and  pointedly  to  the  question 
before  the  House.  And  at  last,  as  the  days  of 
the  session  were  quickly  running  out,  and  Gov- 
ernment business  was  wofully  behind,  the  Minis- 
try hit  on  the  sensible  plan  of  buying  off  his  op- 
position for  a  couple  of  months.  This  was  done 
by  the  introduction  of  the  Irish  Intermediate  Ed- 
ucation Bill,  which  went  far  towards  putting  Irish 
Catholics  on  an  equality  with  Irish  Protestants  in 
the  matter  of  middle-class  education,  restored  to 
Ireland  a  million  of  pounds  out  of  the  many  mil- 
lions taken  from  her  and  transferred  to  the  Impe- 
rial Exchequer,  and  must  prove  of  incalculable 
benefit  to  the  next  generation  of  Irishmen. 

The  session  of    1879  was  a  repetition  of  the 
previous  one  in  its  leading  features.     Mr.  Parnell 


162  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

devoted  himself,  among  other  labors,  to  a  con- 
tinued criticism  of  the  Government  Army  Bill, 
•with  the  result  that  it  left  the  committee  a  totally 
different  bill  from  what  it  was  when  it  went  in. 
About  thirty  of  his  amendments  were  accepted  by 
Ministers,  and  in  the  course  of  the  long  struggle 
he  succeeded  in  changing  the  opinion  of  the  House 
on  several  points  of  army  discipline.  Meanwhile 
Government  business  was  again  wofully  delayed  ; 
and  another  bid  for  Mr.  ParnelPs  inactivity  was 
made  by  the  introduction  of  an  Irish  University 
Bill — this,  too,  in  face  of  a  Ministerial  state- 
ment, made  early  in  the  session,  that  the  adminis- 
tration had  no  intention  of  dealing  with  the  sub- 
ject of  Irish  university  education. 

Out  of  this  Ministerial  concession  arose  a  most 
unpleasant  episode.  The  bill  notoriously  did  not 
attempt  to  do  full  justice  to  the  Catholic  body. 
Mr.  Parnell  firmly  held  the  view  that  the  same 
method  which  had  forced  it  into  being  could  im- 
prove it  in  constitution.  Several  of  the  Irish 
Catholic  members  were  of  a  like  conviction,  and 
were  anxious  to  keep  up  the  pressure  on  Govern- 
ment. But,  alas  !  a  majority  of  the  Irish  Catholic 
members  would  uot  agree  to  this  courageous  and 
obviously  right  course.  Sharp  words  arc  said  to 
have  passed  between  the  two  sections  at  a  private 
meeting  of  the  party  ;  and  Mr.  Edmund  Dwyer 
Gray,  member  for  Tipperary  County,  and  pro- 
prietor of  the  Freeman's  Journal,  felt  himself 


C.   S.    PARNELL,  M.  P.  163 

especially  aggrieved  by  Mr.  Parnell  through 
something  that  took  place  on  the  occasion.  lie 
revenged  himself  in  the  columns  of  his  paper  by 
floating  the  story  that  Mr.  Parnell  had  called  those 
who  differed  from  him  "  a  cowardly  set  of  Papist 
rats,"  and  another  story  which  charged  him  with 
having  used  offensive  epithets  in  regard  to  several 
of  his  brother  members.  The  first  story  was 
promptly  contradicted  by  five  of  the  Catholic 
members  present  at  the  meeting  —  all  men  of  the 
highest  character,  both  personally  and  politically. 
Three  others,  who  politically  cannot  be  said  to 
stand  by  any  means  so  high,  gave  a  kind  of  sup- 
port to  Mr.  Gray's  statement,  but  all  three  differed 
materially  in  their  versions  of  the  words  alleged 
to  have  been  used  by  Mr.  Parnell.  The  second 
story,  when  traced  to  its  origin,  was  found  to 
have  no  foundation  whatever.  The  whole  country 
rose  almost  as  one  man  to  sustain  the  member 
for  Meath  under  these  unfair  attacks,  and  both 
Mr.  Gray  and  his  journal  fell  into  deep  discredit. 
A  reconciliation  between  the  two  gentlemen  was 
effected  through  the  intervention  of  his  Grace 
the  Archbishop  of  Cashel,  Mr.  Parnell  behaving 
with  the  utmost  magnanimity  in  the  affair. 

The  Irish  University  Act  —  which,  though  it  did 
not  confer  complete  equality  on  the  Catholics,  was 
yet  a  very  useful  measure —  was  the  trophy  Mr. 
Parnell  had  to  show  for  his  Parliamentary  war- 
fare of  1879.  It  is  needles  to  recall  that  by  this 


164  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

time  he  had  all  Ireland  at  his  back,  except  the 
political  tricksters  and  the  British  party-men.  A 
striking  proof  of  the  fact  was  afforded  by  the 
Ennis  election  in  the  Summer  of  1879.  In  that 
spirited  town,  so  celebrated  for  its  connection 
with  Catholic  Emancipation  just  half  a  century 
before,  Mr.  Parnell  was  able  to  carry  a  candidate 
pledged  to  the  active  policy  in  Parliament,  not- 
withstanding the  opposition  of  the  bishop  of  the 
diocese  and  the  local  clergy.  It  need  hardly  be 
observed  that  the  population  of  Ennis  are  among 
the  most  devotedly  Catholic  in  the  world,  and  that 
nowhere  is  the  advice  of  appointed  spiritual 
guides  received  with  more  unqualified  respect,  and 
ordinarily  with  more  unqualified  acceptance,  even 
in  temporal  concerns. 

Mr.  Parnell  had  long  seen  how  destructive  to 
Irish  prosperity  was  the  system  of  Irish  landlord- 
ism. Scarcely  had  the  agitation  for  a  reduction 
of  rents  begun  than  he  reduced  the  rents  of  his 
own  tenants,  although,  as  may  well  be  supposed, 
they  were  not  rack-rents.  From  the  outset  he 
flung  himself  into  the  laud  agitation  started  by 
Mr.  Davitt,  coming  over  from  the  London  Parlia- 
ment to  speak  at  one  of  the  earliest  Mayo  meetings 
in  the  beginning  of  the  Spring  of  1879.  When 
his  harassing  Parliamentary  labors  were  closed  for 
the  session,  instead  of  taking  required  rest,  as 
others  would  have  done,  he  went  into  the  land 
agitation  heart  and  Soul,  attending  meetings  in 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  165 

all  parts  of  the  country.  One  very  appreciable 
effect  of  the  agitation  was  a  widespread  reduction 
of  rents  which  retained  millions  of  pounds  in  the 
impoverished  tenants'  pockets.  More  valuable 
still  were  the  lessons  impressed  by  Mr.  Parnell  on 
the  awakening  tillers  of  the  soil.  Among  others 
he  taught  them  that  it  was  wrong  to  let  themselves 
and  their  families  starve  in  order  to  pay  rack-rents 
to  landlords ;  he  taught  them  to  organize  and 
combine  for  mutual  protection  ;  he  taught  them  to 
regard  the  establishment  of  a  peasant  proprietary 
as  the  one  permanent  settlement  of  the  Irish  land 
question  ;  and  he  struck  out  a  practicable  plan 
which,  while  compensating  the  landlords  for  the 
relinquishment  of  their  proprietorial  privileges, 
would  inevitably  transfer  to  the  tillers  the  owner- 
ship of  the  soil. 

Finally,  seeing  that  the  British  Government  did 
not  mean  to  come  to  the  relief  of  the  unfortunate 
people  trembling  on  the  verge  of  starvation,  and 
that  it  did  mean  to  uphold  the  rapacious  system  of 
landlordism  which  had  driven  them  there,  he  de- 
termined to  appeal  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  They  were  free ;  they  were  generous  ; 
they  were  powerful ;  the  moral  influence  of  their 
public  opinion  would  be  a  tremendous  force  if  ar- 
rayed on  the  side  of  a  plundered  people.  To 
them  he  would  speak  with  the  living  voice  ;  before 
them  he  would  plainly  put  the  case  of  his  clients. 


166  C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P. 

Ho  was  commissioned  by  the  Irish  National  Land 
League  and  Tenants'  Defence  Association. 

The  time  of  his  departure  was  postponed  con- 
siderably by  a  rumor,  which  seems  to  have  been 
skilfully  set  afloat  by  some  one  from  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Dublin  Castle,  that  the  Government  in- 
tended to  arrest  him  on  a  charge  of  sedition,  just 
as  it  had  arrested  Messrs.  Davitt,  Daly,  Brennan, 
and  Killen  for  words  spoken  at  land  meetings. 
Mr.  Parnell  boldly  stayed  to  meet  the  arrest. 

Finding  that  it  came  not,  he,  in  conjunction 
with  Mr.  John  Dillon,  dared  the  Winter's  storms 
and  gave  up  the  social  pleasures  of  the  festive 
Christmas  season  in  the  execution  of  their  mis- 
sion. Christmas  Day  he  spent  in  the  middle  of 
the  Atlantic ;  and  as  for  storms,  his  voyage  was 
one  of  the  most  tempestuous  known.  One  of  the 
finest  of  ocean  steamers,  which  bore  him  and  his 
patriotic  colleague,  was,  by  stress  of  weather,  de- 
layed between  three  and  four  days  longer  than 
the  ordinary  voyage.  The  excitement  throughout 
Ireland  was  painful  ki  its  intensity  as  morning 
after  morning  went  by  after  the  eleventh  day,  and 
the  telegraph  had  not  flashed  back  the  news  of  the 
vessel's  safe  arrival  ki  New  York  harbor.  When 
that  welcome  news  did  come  however,  and  all  fear 
for  Mr.  Parnell's  safety  was  at  an  end,  there  was 
a  general  and  grateful  sense  of  relief. 

Landlordism  dies  hard.  Scarcely  had  he  set 
foot  on  the  American  shore  than  he  found  himself 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  1G7 

confronted  by  a  host  of  hostile  influences  for  which 
he  could  scarcely  have  been  prepared.  The  cables 
had  been  busily  employed  against  him  in  advance  ; 
a  section  of  the  press  had  been  "  nobbled  " ;  so  too 
had  a  section  of  prominent  and  once  popular  Irish- 
Americans.  But  the  member  for  Meath  was  not  a 
man  to  be  easily  dismayed.  He  fronted  every  foe 
in  turn,  and  battled  as  stoutly  and  steadily  in  the 
new  arena  as  in  the  old.  In  spite  of  all  opposi- 
tion, covert  as  well  as  open,  his  mission  must  be 
accounted  a  great  success. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  him  through  his 
American  tour.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  his  progress 
was  like  that  of  some  beloved  monarch  through 
crowds  of  rejoicing  subjects.  Cities  contended 
for  his  presence ;  invitations  rained  on  him ; 
deputations  waited  on  him  from  far  off  places ; 
governors  of  States,  mayors  of  towns,  and  other 
public  dignitaries,  thronged  around  him ;  the 
thunder  of  cannon  saluted  him  in  many  places  on 
his  arrival ;  the  citizen  soldiery  of  a  free  people 
frequently  lined  his  route  or  surrounded  his  car- 
riage as  guards  of  honor ;  great  processions  were 
organized  for  his  reception ;  darkness  was  often 
banished  for  him  by  the  glare  of  innumerable 
lighted  torches ;  presentations  of  divers  sorts 
flowed  in  on  him  —  addresses  of  welcome,  odes 
and  poems,  floral  wreaths  and  bouquets ;  fetes 
and  banquets  were  prepared  for  him  in  profusion ; 
at  wayside  railway  stations  he  was  called  on  to 


168  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

speak  from  his  car ;  the  largest  halls  were  every- 
where secured  for  his  lectures,  and  these  were 
always  crammed  ;  nay,  in  Chicago,  which  has  one 
of  the  vastest  and  finest  opera-houses  in  the  world, 
that  building  was  deemed  far  too  small  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  many  thousands  who  were 
eager  to  see  and  hear  him,  so  the  immense  Expo- 
sition Building  of  the  city  was  specially  prepared 
for  the  delivery  of  his  address,  and  twenty  thou- 
sand persons,  paying  each  either  two  or  four  shil- 
lings for  the  privilege  of  admission,  gathered  into 
the  enormous  hall  on  the  night  he  spoke  there. 
The  admission  fees  to  his  lectures  were  invariably 
as  high  as  at  Chicago,  and  the  various  halls  were 
as  invariably  packed.  Not  alone  througli  those 
fees,  but  by  direct  subscription  also,  he  received 
large  sums  of  money,  which  he  promptly  trans- 
mitted to  Ireland  for  relief  purposes  ;  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  fact  that  by  his  presence  and  proceedings 
he  briskly  stimulated  sources  from  which  otherwise 
but  little  was  to  be  expected,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
New  York  Herald  fund.  In  short,  the  man  who 
went  to  the  United  States  to  plead  in  behalf  of  a 
starving  people,  and  denounce  the  most  vicious 
system,  of  land  tenure  in  the  world,  had  greater 
than  a  conqueror's  triumphs  in  his  marvellous 
progress.  To  crown  all,  he  received  from  the 
legislature  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  from 
several  of  the  State  legislatures,  the  highest  honor 
it  was  in  their  power  to  pay,  in  the  granting  to 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  169 

him  of  the  privilege  of  addressing  them  from  the 
floor  of  the  chamber  precisely  as  if  he  were  a 
member.  The  scene  in  the  Washington  House  of 
Representatives  was  specially  remarkable.  The 
galleries  of  the  House  were  packed  immediately 
upon  the  opening  of  the  doors,  and  the  floor  was 
filled  with  members  and  their  wives  and  daughters 
to  testify  their  recognition  of  the  services,  rendered 
by  Mr.  Parnell  to  Ireland.  The  Speaker  of  the 
House  introduced  the  distinguished  guest  in  the 
following  words :  — 

"The  House  will  be  in  order.  The  session  of 
this  evening  is  in  consequence  of  a  resolution 
adopted  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  which 
the  Chair  will  now  cause  to  be  read  by  the  Clerk." 

Following  the  reading  of  the  resolution,  the 
Speaker  said  :  — 

"In  conformity  with  the  terms  of  this  resolution, 
I  have  the  honor  and  pleasure  to  introduce  to  you 
Charles  Stewart  Parnell,  of  Ireland,  who  comes 
among  us  to  speak  of  the  distresses  of  his  country." 

When  the  applause  in  the  densely  packed  gal- 
leries had  subsided,  Mr.  Parnell  addressed  the 
House,  and  was  listened  to  with  the  closest  atten- 
tion. His  address  occupied  about  half  an  hour  in 
its  delivery,  and  was,  says  a  listener,  a  "calm  and 
able  presentation  of  the  evils  under  which  Ireland 
suffers." 

After  the  House,  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  O'Con- 
nor, of  South  Carolina,  had  adjourned,  a  largo 


170  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

number  breasted  the  severe  snow-storm  raging  to 
attend  the  serenade  to  Mr.  Parnell  at  Willard's 
Hotel,  tendered  him  by  Professor  Joyce's  band. 
A  collation  had  been  prepared  by  the  Con- 
gressional Reception  Committee  for  their  distin- 
guished guests.  Mr.  Young,  Governor  of  Ohio, 
presided  ;  Mr.  O'Connor  acting  as  vice-president. 
Speaker  Randall  was  also  present;  and,  in  truth, 
the  whole  company  was  a  distinguished  one. 

The  remarkable  honor  conferred  on  Mr.  Parnell 
by  the  Washington  House  of  Representatives  had 
but  three  precedents  —  namely,  in  the  cases  of 
Lafayette,  the  hero  of  two  continents ;  the  cele- 
brated Bishop  England,  of  Charleston  ;  and  Kos- 
suth,  the  noted  Hungarian  patriot,  when  in 
enforced  exile.  It  should  be  noted  also  that  the 
President,  surrounded  by  his  Cabinet,  gave  an 
audience  to  Mr.  Parnell,  as  if  he  were  the  duly 
accredited  envoy  of  some  organized  and  inde- 
pendent foreign  State.  Such  honors  well  mark 
the  effect  of  the  Irish  ambassador's  mission. 

Here  we  bring  to  a  close  our  biographical  sketch, 
leaving  Mr.  Parnell  to  continue  the  noble  career 
so  well  begun  and  continued,  and  which  we  feel 
assured,  if  life  and  health  be  spared  to  him,  he 
will  splendidly  complete. 


C.    8.    PAKNELL,,  M.  P.  171 


APPENDIX. 


SOME   PARTICULARS    OF   C.  S.  PARNELI/S   EARLY   LIFE. 

WE  are  indebted  to  Mrs.  Delia  Purnell,  mother 
of  Charles  Stewart  Parnell,  for  the  following 
authentic  particulars  regarding  his  early  career, 
in  addition  to  those  which  will  be  found  ou  an 
earlier  page  in  the  body  of  our  biographical 
sketch  :  — 

As  a  child  he  was  remarkable  for  wit,  poetical 
fancies,  sprightliness,  and  enterprise. 

At  the  age  of  seven,  on  the  outbreak  of  the  Cri- 
mean war,  in  1853,  he  amused  his  fellow-passen- 
gers in  the  Rathdrum  stage,  on  his  way  home 
from  school,  by  comparing  the  populations  and 
military  strength  of  the  various  European  Powers, 
with  a  view  to  determining  their  respective 
chances  in  the  event  of  a  general  European  war. 
Some  of  the  passengers  remarked  that  the  little 
fellow  had  been  wonderfully  well  taught. 

In  alluding  to  his  early  taste  for  mechanical 
science  as  exhibited  in  his  efforts  to  construct  a 
"perpetual  motion"  machine,  Mrs.  Parnell  says: 
"Some  danger  attended  his  experiments  about 
perpetual  motion ;  and  when  he  feared  an  explo- 


172  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

sion  he  would  call  out  to  every  one  to  get  out  of 
the  room,  but  remain  in  it  near  his  machine  him- 
self." This  anecdote  of  the  boy  is  surely  charac- 
teristic of  the  man  ;  for  at  least  on  two  occasions 
during  the  land  agitation  in  the  West,  at  Balla 
and  iit  Castlerea,  when  there  was  imminent  pros- 
pect of  a  collision  between  the  armed  police  and 
the  unarmed  people,  he  displayed  a  like  personal 
intrepidity  and  a  similar  care  for  the  safety  of 
others,  flinging  himself  into  the  gap  of  danger, 
so  that  the  lives  of  the  people  should  not  be  im- 
perilled. 

Referring  to  his  daring  escapade  in  the  effort 
to  make  bullets  by  pouring  melted  lead  froth  the 
roof  of  the  mansion  of  Avondale,  Mrs.  Parnell 
remarks :  "  It  was  a  great  undertaking  for  a 
small  boy  safely  to  lug  an  iron  pot,  such  as  po- 
tatoes are  boiled  in,  but  filled  with  hot  coals,  up 
two  high  pairs  of  stairs,  two  high  ladders,  the 
ascent  from  the  lead  valley  in  the  midst  of  the 
slated  roof  to  the  top  of  it,  and  down  to  the  coping 
around  the  roof.  To  this  day  his  enterprises  are 
vast,  but  with  this  advantage  now  —  that  the 
greatest  enterprises  have  the  greatest  opinions, 
the  greatest  masses,  and  the  greatest  natural  forces 
behind  them." 

Ampler  details  concerning  Mr.  ParuelFs  school 
life  than  we  were  able  to  give  previously  are  here 
appended:  "His  education,  after  having  been 
considerably  advanced  at  home,  was  continued,  at 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  173 

seven  years  of  age,  at  a  small  school,  Miss  Marly's, 
in  Somersetshire,  England,  where,  while  eagerly 
and  advantageously  pursuing  his  studies,  he  fell 
ill,  and  lay  for  weeks  almost  at  the  point  of  death, 
through  typhoid  fever.  Since  then  he  has  never 
enjoyed  the  robust  health  of  his  childhood,  and 
the  illness  left  an  unnatural  nervous  irritability, 
which,  however,  he  has  conquered.  Soon  after 
this  illness  he  was  taken  back  to  Ireland,  and 
-placed  under  a  private  tutor.  After  this  he  was 
sent  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Barton's,  in  Derbyshire, 
where  he  again  improved  greatly  under  the  care 
and  tuition  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barton,  both  of  them 
kind  and  superior  people.  Mrs.  Barton  belonged 
to  a  celebrated  literary  family.  "I  will  remark," 
says  Mrs.  Parnell,  "that  particular  pains  were 
taken  to  place  Charles  with  manifestly  kind  and 
religious  people.  Miss  Marly  was  especially  so. 
She  was  a  Dissenter.  After  his  father's  death 
Charles  was  kept  at  home  under  a  private  tutor, 
until,  at  Lady  Londonderry's  instance,  I  sent  him 
to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wishaw's,  in  Oxfordshire,  whence 
he  went  to  Cambridge.  Mr.  Wishaw  was  a  spec- 
ially kind,  highly  educated,  and  accomplished 
tutor.  All  my  son's  tutors,"  continues  Mrs.  Par- 
nell, "expressed  a  high  opinion  of  Charles'  abili- 
ties ;  and  the  tutors  of  my  three  sons  reposed  a 
peculiar  trust  in  their  honor  and  steadiness.  All 
three  have  been  remarkable  for  goodness  and  ten- 
derness of  feeling,  industry,  patience,  and  perse- 


174  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

verance — attributes  remarkably  derived."  The 
reader  of  these  pages  will,  we  are  sure,  concur 
with  Mrs.  Parnell  in  deeming  those  attributes  "re- 
markably derived."  Few  meu  had  ever  more  il- 
lustrious ancestry. 

We  get  a  pleasant  glimpse  of  Charles  Stewart 
Parnell's  natural  generosity  of  disposition,  as  well 
as  of  the  warmth  of  Irish  feeling  which  kindly 
treatment  ever  evokes,  from  the  following :  — 
"  Charles  always  deprecated  any  lack  of  hospital- 
ity at  his  early  home,  wanting  every  man  and 
beast  that  came  to  it  to  be  entertained ;  and  I 
found,  while  I  was  a  widow,  that  tenants  and  re- 
tainers who  needed  it  while  travelling,  adopted 
my  house  as  a  home,  as  in  feudal  times,  while, 
such  was  the  devotion  of  the  people  on  our  place 
to  us,  I  thought  that  did  we  require  it  we  could 
raise  a  corps  of  defenders  among  them.  Nothing 
could  exceed  the  faithfulness  and  unselfishness  of 
our  employees." 

Another  pleasant  glimpse — one  of  family  life 
— %  afforded  in  the  appended  passage :  "  My 
children  have  always  been  good  and  devoted  to 
one  another.  Charles,  im  particular,  has  shown 
that  the  child  was  father  to  the  man ;  for  the 
energy  and  devotion  he  now  manifests  to  his 
country  —  to  those  who  need  a  mighty  help  —  are 
the  outgrowth  of  his  youthful  activity  and  consid- 
eration in  favor  of  his  family,  and  of  his  feeling, 
just  and  indulgent  judgments,  respect,  and  tin- 


C.    S.    PARNELL,  M.  P.  175 

selfishness  towards  all  who  came  near  him.  In 
these  traits,  and  in  his  prudence,  he  resembles  his 
late  uncle,  my  devoted  brother,  Col.  Charles  Tudor 
Stewart,  who  was  perfect  as  a  son,  a  brother,  an 
imcle,  and  a  friend." 


II. 


FURTHER   PARTICULARS    CONCERNING   THE    TARNELL 
FAMILY. 

In  the  Freeman's  Journal  of  February  15,  1821, 
a  correspondent  who  signs  himself  "C.,"  and  dates 
from  "16  Parliament-street,  12th  February,  1821," 
writes  as  follows  of  Mr.  C.  S.  ParnelPs  grandfather, 
William  Parnell,  brother  of  Sir  Henry,  and  M.  P. 
for  county  Wicklow,  to  whom  but  a  passing  refer- 
ence was  made  in  a  previous  page  :  — 

"  Few  men  in  modern  times  excelled  the  late  William 
Parnell,  Esq.,  in  those  virtues  which  may  be  bene- 
ficialty  recorded.  Descended  from  an  illustrious  famihr, 
he  obtained  his  first  literary  instructions  under  the 
superintendence  of  his  incorruptible  and  patriotic 
father  —  the  late  Sir  John  Parnell,  Bart.  Passing 
over  the  scenes  of  infancy  and  early  j'outh,  I  find  Mr. 
Parnell  a  distinguished  student  in  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  excelling  in  the  cultivation  of  the  liberal 
sciences,  unequalled  in  chaste  literature.  He  returned 
to  his  native  land  at  the  period  of  his  maturity.  The 
first  emotion  of  his  generous  and  exalted  mind  was 


176  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

sorrow  for  the  condition  of  his  countr}r,  and  his  first 
desire  was  to  remedy  some  portion  of  her  manifold 
evils.  He  could  not  refer  to  the  situation  of  his 
Catholic  countrymen  in  any  other  terms  than  those  of 
shame  and  abhorrence  ;  neither  was  he  content  to  linger 
out  his  da}-s  in  inactive  and  unprofitable  sympathy. 

"  In  1806  he  published  his  excellent  work  upon  the 
Penal  Code  affecting  the  Catholic  bod}',  in  which  he 
reviewed,  with  boldness  and  brilliancy,  the  bad  polio}- 
of  past  ages,  and  was  the  first  to  trace,  in  a  manner 
becoming  an  efficient  statesman,  the  cruel  and  perni- 
cious ramifications  of  that  system. 

"In  1807  he  sent  forth  his  'Apology  for  the  Irish 
Catholics,'  in  which  he  exhibited  in  vivid  colors  the  in- 
justice of  the  imputations  made  against  that  body. 

"  He  continued  to  the  latest  period  of  his  life  the  same 
spirit  of  friendly  exertion,  in  and  out  of  the  senate, 
to  promote  their  claims,  and  had  nearly  completed 
an  invaluable  History  of  the  Irish  Roman  Catholics, 
enumerating  their  many  grievances  and  sufferings  from 
the  reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth  to  the  present  period. 

"  The  poorer  classes  of  his  countrymen  were  the 
dearest  objects  of  his  anxious  and  earnest  solicitude. 
He  studied  their  wants  and  sustained  their  interests 
with  a  care  and  devotion  almost  chivalrous.  His  kind- 
ly heart  was  deeply  grieved  by  the  neglect  of  education 
to  which  the  peasantry  were  exposed,  and  his  earnest 
labors  were  daily  engaged  in  endeavors  to  alleviate 
the  evil. 

"  Every  attempt  to  educate  the  poor  could  claim  a 
participation  in  his  patronage  and  purse  ;  and  his  last 
effort  was  to  obtain  from  the  Government  a  grant  for 
the  education  of  the  Catholic  poor  on  principles  un- 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  177 

objectionable  in  theory  and  practical  in  application. 
He  found  there  were  objections  made  to  the  reading  of 
the  Testament  unaided  by  the  guidance  of  any  annota- 
tions ;  his  wish  was  to  serve,  and  not  offend,  and  ac- 
cordingly, in  the  true  spirit  of  his  comprehensive  liber- 
ality, he  published,  at  his  own  expense,  five  thousand 
copies  of  the  notes  approved  of  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
Archbishops  of  Ireland,  to  be  gratuitously  distributed 
with  the  New  Testament. 

"  His  forbearance  and  consideration  toward  his  nu- 
merous tenantry  obtained  a  return  of  attachment  the 
most  enviable  and  animated,  the  natural  result  of  the 
excellent  qualities  of  the  heart  that  render  the  relation 
of  landlord  and  tenant  a  reciprocal  blessing. 

"  Possessing  captivating  manners,  a  cultivated  mind, 
and  eminent  rank  and  connections,  his  society  was 
cherished  and  appreciated  by  the  most  exalted ;  but 
his  desire  was  to  be  useful  rather  than  ornamental,  and 
he  manifested  the  sincerity  of  that  predilection  by  his 
deportment  through  life.  He  endured  the  most  severe 
of  human  afflictions  —  the  loss  of  a  beloved,  amiable, 
and  endearing  wife  —  with  the  resignation  that  be- 
came a  Christian,  but  with  a  sorrow  that  would  not  be 
discreditable  to  the  most  dignified  philosophy.  Indeed 
that  calamity  bore  heavily  upon  him  to  the  last ;  but 
his  parental  solicitude  was  only  increased,  if  possible, 
by  the  additional  duties  that  devolved  upon  him. 

"  He  was  a  good  man  in  all  his  courses ;  but  as  a 
father  he  excelled  almost  inimitably.  The  education 
of  his  children  occupied  a  principal  portion  of  his  time 
and  thoughts  ;  these  tender  orphans,  bearing  the  marks 
of  his  care,  now  furnish  living  proofs  of  the  excellent 
qualities  of  their  lamented  guide,  director,  and  parent. 


178  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

"On  Friday,  the  22nd  of  December,  1820,  he  had 
been  occupied  with  the  Right  Honorable  Secretary  for 
Ireland,  in  procuring  through  him  a  grant  of  £3,000 
annually,  to  be  vested  in  the  Roman  Catholic  bishops 
of  Ireland,  for  the  education  of  their  poor ;  and  that 
day,  on  which  he  had  completed  the  preliminaries  to 
carry  his  benevolent  design  into  effect,  having  proved 
unusually  wet,  he  caught  a  severe  cold  that  terminated 
in  a  malignant  fever.  He  died  at  the  house  of  his 
revered  and  distinguished  father-in-law,  Colonel  How- 
ard, on  the  2nd  of  January,  1824,  in  the  forty-fourth 
year  of  his  age,  being  ill  but  eleven  days. 

"  No  man  was  ever  withdrawn  from  the  busy  scene 
of  life  more  beloved,  revered,  and  esteemed  by  those 
who  were  favored  with  his  acquaintance  ;  and  few  have 
left  behind  them  more  acute  lamentations  for  the  de- 
parture of  generous  philanthropy  and  honored  worth. 
One  who  valued  him  in  life,  pays  this  inadequate  trib- 
ute to  his  memory." 

The  two  eldest  of  Mr.  C.  S.  ParnelFs  brothers 
have  been  long  dead.  One,  William  Tudor  Par- 
nell,  fell  a  victim  to  bad  vaccination,  after  a  long 
struggle,  in  his  infancy.  The  other,  Hayes  Par- 
nell,  was  a  most  promising  youth.  From  the  age 
of  six  or  thereabouts  he  evinced  tendencies  which 
afterwards  developed  into  remarkable  literary  and 
artistic  talent,  and  he  was  early  noted  for  patriot- 
ism. He  wrote  both  prose  and  poetry  well  while 
still  a  boy ;  and  in  his  passion  for  military  and 
naval  life  was  wont  to  cover  sheets  of  paper  with 
original  battle-scenes,  and  with  plans  for  construct- 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  179 

ing  the  best  and  swiftest  ships.  When  he  wished 
to  ascertain  areas,  while  as  yet  he  was  ignorant  of 
the  very  name  of  Euclid,  he  drew,  for  the  sake 
of  accuracy,  problems  of  his  own  invention. 
Although  a  pleurisy  carried  him  off  at  so  youthful 
an  age  as  fifteen,  he  had  written  a  "History  of 
Ireland  as  she  is  to  be,"  in  which  he  introduced 
laws  of  his  own  framing  for  her  free  government. 
John  Howard  Parnell,  Mr.  C.  S.  Parnell's  elder 
living  brother,  who  was  a  Home  Rule  candidate 
for  the  representation  of  Wicklow  County  at  the 
general  election  of  1874,  has  attained  singular 
success  in  the  growing  of  peaches  on  his  land  in 
Alabama.  He  has  been  mentioned  in  agricultural 
periodicals,  especially  "for  having  obtained  by  his 
skill  the  best  and  largest  peaches  ever  grown. 
Their  size  is  almost  incredible."  In  quality  they 
are  said  to  reach  perfection ;  and  the  number  of 
them  Mr.  J.  H.  Parnell  annually  produces  is 
astonishing.  He  was  the  first  to  export  peaches 
in  good  condition  from  America  to  Ireland.  Of 
his  estate  in  the  county  Armngh  the  corporation 
of  Trinity  College  is  the  head  landlord,  Mrs. 
Parnell  describes  him  as  having  more  of  the  physi- 
cal strength  of  Sir  John  Parnell,  whom  he  is  said 
to  resemble,  than  her  other  sons ;  and  relates  of 
him  the  following  anecdote  :  — 

"  When  a  boy,  having  received  some  great  provoca- 
tion, but  unwilling  to  hurt  any  one  weaker  than  himself, 
he  seized  hold  of  a  heavy  mahogany  old-fashioned  arm- 


180  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

chair,  and  saying,  '  I  must  hurt  something,'  smashed  it 
to  pieces  at  one  blow  on  the  floor."  She  sums  up  his 
character  by  saying  that  he  is  "  full  of  pity  and  kind- 
ness for  every  one." 

Mr.  C.  S.  Parnell's  younger  brother,  Henry 
Tudor  Parnell,  at  the  very  threshold  of  manhood 
gave  practical  effect  to  the  theory  of  peasant 
proprietorship  by  disposing  of  his  estate  to  those 
who  tilled  it.  Mrs.  Parnell  says  of  him  : 

"My  youngest  son,  always  a  hard  worker  and 
student,  and  delicately  honorable,  showed  extra- 
ordinary business  capacity,  immediately  on  com- 
ing of  age,  in  the  rearrangement  of  his  property 
and  its  sale  to  his  tenants."  The  name  of  the 
estate  thus  referred  to  is  Clonmore.  It  furnished 
the  courtesy  title  of  the  eldest  sons  of  the  Earls  of 
Wicklow. 


Ill 

ADDITIONAL   DETAILS   REGARDING   C.  S.  PARNELL's 
MATERNAL   ANCESTRY. 

"My  grandfather,  Charles  Stewart,"  writes 
Mrs.  Parnell,  "quartered  the  royal  arms  of  Scot- 
land, which  were  on  a  large  quantity  of  family 
plate  he  brought  with  him  to  this  country ;  but 
at  the  time  of  the  Eevolutionary  war,  when  the 
distress  in  this  infant  country  (the  United  States) 
was  extreme,  his  widow  —  who,  besides  being  of 


.C.    S.    PAR'NELL,    M.  I>.  181 

Milesian  origin,  was  still  further  revolutionized  in 
this  land,  and  being  by  his  death  freed  from  the 
influence  of  her  semi-Scotch  husband  and  of  the 
little  god  of  love  (more  potent  than  blood)  — 
melted  down  her  plate  to  help  suitably  to  rear  her 
eight  children,  which  was  a  matter  of  primary  im- 
portance. This  she  did  through  the  urgency  of 
her  son-in-law,  John  MacAuley,  father  of  Admiral 
MacAuley,  of  the  United  States  Navy.  She  was  a 
lady  of  excellent  education,  polished  manners,  su- 
perior beauty  of  face  and  figure,  and  strong  and 
unblemished  character.  All  her  children  pros- 
pered, through  her  kind  and  yet  severe  training. 
Soft  as  a  mother's  heart  is  to  her  manly  boys,  she 
did  not  hesitate  to  punish  them,  particularly  for 
the  least  breach  of  truth  or  chivalry. 

"Her  son  Charles  was  full  of  fun,  and  some- 
times of  mischief.  I  remember  his  telling  me 
how  severely  his  mother  punished  him  for  upset- 
ting the  stall  of  an  apple-woman  —  so  severely  that 
he  never  did  the  like  again.  I  remember  hearing 
that  when  his  dancing  master's  back  was  turned  he 
would  amuse  himself  pulling  out  the  peg  (the  ar- 
ticle used  in  those  days)  that  stopped  up  his  mas- 
ter's barrel  of  beer.  It  was  from  dancing  school 
he  ran  away  to  sea.  His  mother  did  not  contem- 
plate such  'steps'  on  his  part.  She  had  prom- 
ised his  father  on  his  death-bed  that  his  son  should 
never  embrace  a  sea-faring  life. 
.  "My  father  inherited  from  his  parents,  and,  as  I 


182  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

remember,  from  his  mother  certainly,  the  grace 
and  dignity  of  his  carriage  and  the  charm  of  his 
manner  and  conversation.  I  remember  the  de- 
lightful stories  she  told  and  the  sweet  songs  she 
sang  at  ninety -three  and  later.  She  never  seemed 
old  in  any  respect.  Her  husband  must  have  been 
very  attractive  to  have  captivated,  when  so  much 
older  than  herself,  this  charming  beauty,  and  a 
reputed  heiress  of  fifteen.  She  blamed  some  of 
her  family  for  encouraging  her  elopement,  as  they 
coveted  her  prospective  wealth,  and  wished  to  get 
rid  of  her.  Only  to  my  father,  I  believe,  she 
mentioned  their  names,  she  so  disdained  their 
conduct. 

"Her  husband,  Charles  Stewart,  gave  half  his 
fortune  to  the  Eevolutionary  Government,  and  so 
helped  to  impoverish  his  family,  as  they  never  re- 
ceived any  compensation  for  its  surrender.  My 
father,  I  have  been  told,  gave  the  ships  he  owned 
to  the  United  States  Government  in  the  war  of 
1812  with  Great  Britain,  and  received  no  remun- 
eration beyond  what  his  sword  brought  him. 
With  similar  devotion  to  a  yet  poor  country,  he 
never  urged  his  claims  to  large  amounts  of  prize- 
money,  including  those  for  the  capture  of  the  Le- 
vant and  several  British  merchantmen,  the  latter 
not  mentioned  in  his  life.  My  grandfather,  Wil- 
liam Tudor,  or  Judge  Tudor,  as  he  was  called, 
also  generously  spent  -a  colossal  fortune  in  bene- 
fiting individuals,  the  public  of  Boston  and  its 


C.    S.    PAENELL,    M.  P.  183 

environs.  Both  sides  of  my  family  were  wealthy 
at  first,  and,  for  this  land  then,  immensely 
wealthy.  Therefore,  but  for  the  traits  mentioned, 
and  had  they  let  their  means  moderately  take  care 
of  themselves,  we  would  have  been  among  the 
richest  of  the  rich  in  this  rich  country.  How- 
ever, we  have  been  taken  care  of  by  a  wise 
Power,  and  their  descendants  have  never  been 
seen  begging  their  bread.  I  tell  the  story  that  it 
may  point  a  moral  and  adorn  a  tale. 

"  My  father,  it  was  said  by  English  gentlemen 
visiting  this  country,  had  the  most  fascinating 
manners  of  any  gentleman  in  it  —  a  wide  asser- 
tion ;  for  none,  in  old  grand  grace,  urbanity,  wit, 
and  intelligence  united,  not  even  French  noblemen 
of  the  anden  regime,  surpass  Southern  gentlemen 
in  these  States.  But  my  father  was  descended 
from  Irish  gentlemen,  under  the  hollow  of  whose 
feet  water  could  run  without  touching  them  ;,from 
a  race  that  even  in  the  poorest  looked  to  me,  a 
young  American  nurtured  among  great  men,  when 
I  first  landed  at  Kingstown,  as  one  and  all,  gentle- 
men at  ease,  as  they  lounged  about  with  their 
hands  in  their  pockets  to  keep  them  warm  and 
clean  while  looking  for  a  job.  If  it  is  true  that 
what  is  bred  in  the  bone  will  come  out  in  the 
breeding,  the  Irish  must  have  drunk,  in  better 
days,  of  congenial  Pierian  springs,  and,  for 
mother-milk,  sucked  honey  from  Hybla ;  for  no 
fustian  can  disguise,  no  hardship  obliterate,  the 


184  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

keen  intellect,  the  ready  wit,  the  noble  composure 
of  their  solid  substratum,  their  ancient  founda- 
tion. 

"A  brother  of  Mrs.  Segrave  (a  late  resident  in 
the  County  Wicklow),  while  he  was  a  middy  in 
the  Cyane  or  Levant,  was  in  great  terror  at  false 
stories  told  him  of  American  conquerors,  which 
my  father  noticing,  patted  the  little  fellow  on  the 
back,  and  told  him  to  fear  nothing.  My  father 
also  paroled  and  helped  home  the  crews  and  offi- 
cers of  those  two  ships. 

"  When  taking  some  prizes  into  Gibraltar  he  was 
vexed  by  Admiral  Lord  Carysfort's  sending  an  of- 
ficer to  one  of  them  to  investigate  their  business, 
but  the  officer  in  command  of  said  prize  threat- 
ened to  cut  the  first  man  down  who  stepped  on 
board.  My  father  afterwards  went  to  Portsmouth 
in  England  to  complain  of  Lord  Carysfort's  inter- 
ference, and  received  an  apology  from  the  Admi- 
rality.  One  of  my  kindest  friends  afterwards  was 
the  brother  of  the  said  Admiral.  Granville  Lev- 
eson,  Lord  Carysfort,  married  my  late  husband's 
aunt,  and  I  used  to  fight  my  father's  battles  over 
again  with  him  in  a  friendly  way,  though  argu- 
mentative. 

"  My  father  told  me  that  the  great  mistake  of 
his  life  had  been  not  valuing  my  mother  as  she  de- 
served ;  that  the  brilliancy  of  his  career  had  in  a 
great  measure  been  due  to  her,  and  through  her 
sympathies  and  influences  had  been  destined  to  be 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  185 

still  better  and  brighter.  She  knew  Latin  and 
Greek,  and  besides  fluently  spoke  French,  Ger- 
man, Italian,  and  Spanish.  Her  performance  on 
the  piano  was  famed  in  France,  England,  and 
America ;  her  oil  paintings  are  still  a  theme  for 
admiration ;  and  she  played  the  harp  exquisitely. 
Her  memory  of  history  in  particular  was  extraor- 
dinary, and  her  eloquence  overpowering.  A  lady 
said  to  me,  'Every  word  that  falls  from  her  mouth 
is  a  jewel.'  Her  soul  was  too  great  for  her  means 
and  her  sphere.  Her  exertions  to  serve  others 
knew  no  limits.  Many  owed  their  comfort,  their 
happiness,  their  existence  to  her  ;  for  her  purposes 
were  never  small,  her  efforts  never  weary.  She 
was  the  amanuensis  of  my  father  while  he  was  on 
the  Pacific  station,  and  wrote  his  French  and 
Spanish  letters.  He  said  to  me,  when  he  was 
nominated  for  the  Presidency  of  this  country,  that 
had  he  appreciated  my  mother's  abilities  in  time 
she  would  have  had  him  made  President  ten  years 
previously,  'for  she  could  do  anything  she  liked.' 
In  every  relation  of  life  my  mother  was  a  glowing 
example  of  every  virtue.  Her  filial  devotion  was 
mentioned  from  the  pulpit. 

"  As  I  peruse  the  letters  of  different  members  of 
my  family  I  am  struck  by  their  far-sightedness 
and  accuracy  of  detail  and  judgment.  My  mother 
daily  evinced  a  penetration  almost  superhuman, 
and  a  prevision  that  seemed  prophetic.  But  as 
too  little  attention  is  often  paid  to  woman's  wit, 


186  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

notwithstanding  the  familiar  phrase  of  'inother- 
wit,'  she  was  often  compared  to  Cassandra  at  the 
siege  of  Troy.  I  can  conceive  nothing  more 
painful  to  human  feeling  than  as  a  woman  to  be 
compelled,  like  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jeru- 
salem, to  cry  'Wo!  wo!'  and  yet  remain  un- 
heeded ;  and  I  believe  that  life  in  its  struggles, 
its  future,  is  in  tenderness  veiled  to  woman,  as  a 
rule ;  and  further,  that  so  she  seems  meant  to 
typify,  to  exemplify,  the  warmth  and  intelligence, 
the  hope  and  charity,  at  whose  pure  founts  the 
infant  man  may  be  nurtured,  strengthened,  and 
upheld  to  surmount  the  difficulties  that  chiefly 
beset  the  widest  sphere  of  action — from  whose 
purer  hands  he  may  depart  winged  for  a  double 
mission,  like  Mercury,  the  messenger  of  the  gods. 
Woman's  mission  is  chiefly  to  pity,  to  aid,  the 
feeble  and  the  suffering ;  and  in  her  sorrow  how 
wide  that  mission  may  become  !  History  shows 
that,  for  good  or  evil,  often,  as  is  the  mother,  so 
is  the  sou  ;  and  private  life  shows  too  often  that  as 
is  the  mother  for  nullity,  frivolity,  or  selfishness, 
so  is  the  son.  Many  a  man  who  would  respond 
on  some  angelic  mission  to  Beranger's  lines  — 

"  '  Plaignez  le  peuple,  il  souffre,  et  tout  grand  homme 
Aupres  du  peuple  est  1'envoye  de  Dieu' — 

has  surely  felt  and  acknowledged  a  mother's  sacred 
influence. 

"I   am   informed   that   the   name    Ford   is   of 


C.    S.    PARtfELL,    M.  P.  187 

purely  Milesian  origin,  and  am  therefore  inclined 
to  think  that,  as  nothing  has  ever  done  so,  noth- 
ing ever  will  quench  the  ardor  and  pertinacity 
•which  seem  inherent  in  all  my  children,  the 
power  to  struggle  and  to  overcome,  and  which 
succeeds  in  whatever  field  is  open  to  it  —  in 
whatever  the  hand  finds  to  do.  Let  us  hope  it 
may  be  accompanied  too  by  the  keen  vision  to  see 
the  open  door,  the  rift  in  the  cloud ;  by  the  faith 
to  behold,  while  yet  unseen,  the -blessings  that  lie 
buried,  but  germinating  for  a  greater  birth,  in  the 
Isle  of  Saints,  the  Isle  of  the  West,  the  isle  whose 
hope,  tried  and  purified  as  silver  in  the  fire,  but 
undimmed  still,  awaits  the  rising  sun  of  prosper- 
ity. 'To  everything  there  is  a  time.'  Some  one, 
some  side,  must  tire  first ;  and  all  efforts,  if  not 
relinquished,  are  by  practice  made  perfect." 

The  Tudors  —  the  other  branch  of  Charles 
Stewart  Parnell's  maternal  ancestry — have  a  his- 
tory full  of  interest.  They  were  of  Spanish  ori- 
gin, and  afterwards  settled  in  Wales,  whence 
divers  branches* of  the  family  pushed  out  into 
positions  of  prominence,  like  the  line  of  Tudor 
sovereigns  who  swayed  the  destinies  of  England 
so  extraordinarily  in  their  day.  The  first  of  the 
family  who  is  known  to  have  appeared  on  the 
American  shores  was  a  Colonel  Tudor,  an  officer 
in  the  British  army.  In  all  probability  he  went 
there  with  his  regiment,  helping  to  hold  the  colo- 
nies for  the  British  crown.  After  his  death,  his 


188  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

widow,  a  woman  of  high  spirit,  disagreeing  with 
her  late  husband's  relatives,  boldly  left  them, 
trusting  to  her  own  resources,  and  with  her  only 
son  John  repaired  to  Boston.  Good  looks  have 
long  been  a  noted  Tudor  characteristic.  Even 
Henry  the  Eighth,  before  he  became  bloated  and 
disfigured  by  sensuality,  is  said  to  have  had  a  mag- 
nificent presence.  The  John  Tudor  mentioned 
above  did  not  lack  the  family  speciality.  He  "  was 
noted  for  his  beauty,  grace,  gentlemanliness,  and 
accomplishments."  Probably  his  widowed  mother 
had  been  compelled,  from  want  of  means,  to  bring 
him  up  in  the  pinching  school  of  hardship,  and 
that  thus  he  acquired  a  close-fisted  ness  foreign  to 
the  family  nature  and  habits.  Certain  it  is  that 
close  he  was,  notwithstanding  his  graces  of  form 
and  manner ;  so  close  that  he  contrived  to  amass 
an  immense  fortune  at  a  time  when  the  British 
colonies  in  America,  through  lack  of  industries, 
offered  but  very  meagre  opportunities  for  fortune- 
building  to  even  the  clearest  commercial  heads. 
He  left  a  son  William  in  possession  of  his  wealth  ; 
and  this  William  Tudor,  revolting  from  the  ex- 
periences of  his  early  years,  and  as  if  in  protesta- 
tion against  the  niggardliness  so  long  beneath  his 
eyes,  spent  his  money  with  an  absolutely  "  impe- 
rial benevolence  and  generosity." 

William  Tudor,  who  was  born  at  Boston  on  the 
28th  March,  1750,  studied  at  Harvard  College, 
and  graduated  in  1769,  was  a  splendid  man, 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  189 

physically  and  morally.  He  had  in  perfection 
what  was  called  "the  Tudor  eye" — "a  large,  bril- 
liant, dark-blue  eye."  He  possessed  at  once  the 
extremes  of  courage  and  tenderness,  and  was  as 
unselfish  as  he  was  clear-headed.  He  was  a  very 
accomplished  man,  and  a  fine  writer.  In  his 
young  manhood  he  studied  law,  under  the  cele- 
brated John  Adams  ;  but  the  study  did  not  ossify 
his  heart.  Even  while  still  little  more  than  a  boy 
his  chosen  friends  were  among  the  best  and  hon- 
estest  of  his  contemporaries.  While  the  bloody 
quarrel  of  the  North  American  colonies  with  Great 
Britain  was  as  yet  looming  in  the  distance,  Wil- 
liam Tudor  had  for  bosom  companions  only  those 
who  might  be  counted  on  to  take  the  side  of  their 
native  country  against  the  foreign  crown.  One 
of  these  intimates  was  his  teacher  of  legal  lore, 
John  Adams,  who,  having  discovered  how  nig- 
gardly John  Tudor  was  in  supplying  money  to 
his  student  sou,  wrote,  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  latter,  to  the  former,  appealing  to  him  to  give 
William  a  more  liberal  allowance,  to  help  his  ad- 
vancement in  life.  "If  your  son  were  infected 
with  the  follies  and  vices  so  fashionable  among 
many  of  the  young  gentlemen  of  our  age  and 
country,"  urged  Adams,  "I  would  never  become 
an  advocate  for  him,  without  his  knowledge,  as  I 
now  am,  with  his  father.  I  should  think,  the 
more  he  was  restrained,  the  better.  But  I  know 
him  to  have  a  clear  head,  and  an  honest,  faithful 


190  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

heart.  He  is  virtuous,  sober,  steady,  industrious, 
and  constant  in  his  office.  He  is  as  frugal  as  he 
can  be  in  his  rank  and  class  of  life,  without  being 
mean.  It  is  your  peculiar  felicity  to  have  a  son 
whose  behavior  and  character  are  thus  deserving." 

William  Tudor  was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  bar 
on  the  27th  July,  1772.  He  had  but  little  time  to 
acquire  a  name  before  the  revolution  came.  He 
counted  on  his  list  of  intimates  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  patriots  of  the  day.  There  could  be 
but  one  side  in  the  strife  for  the  young  lawyer, 
and  that  side  was  his  country's.  Of  course  he 
might  have  acted  the  coward's  part,  and  remained 
neutral ;  but  he  had,  come  of  a  strong  and  daring 
race,  and  with  their  hot  blood  surging  in  his  veins 
he  could  not  stand  idle  while  others  were  arming 
for  the  fray.  He  made  his  way  to  Bunker's  Hill, 
and,  as  a  volunteer,  took  part  ill  the1  action. 
After  the  retreat  of  the  American  insurgents  from 
that  hard-fought  field,  William  Tudor  joined  the 
army  in  a  regular*  manner,  and  served  under  Gen- 
erals Lee  and  Washington.  The  latter  made  him 
his  aide-de-camp  —  a  fact  which  sufficiently  attests 
that  he  had  distinguished  himself  for  bravery  and 
coolness  in  the  hour  of  peril. 

There  was  a  tender  and  romantic  side  to  Wil- 
liam Tudor's  nature.  At  the  very  time  that  the 
insurrection  began,  and  indeed  for  a  considerable 
period  before  that,  he  was  ardently  attached  to  a 
young  lady  named  Delia  Jarvis,  whose  sympathies 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  191 

were  entirely  with  the  royalists.  He  spent  seven 
years  in  striving  to  induce  her  to  accept  him. 
Mrs.  Parnell  writes  of  her:  — 

"She  had  romantic  ideas  of  feminine  character, 
which  she  always  maintained.  Her  strongly 
aesthetic  tastes  led  her  to  prefer  courtly  circles ; 
and  her  gentle,  indulgent  disposition  to  deprecate 
wars,  and  long  for  a  compromise.  Nevertheless 
she  was  considered  to  be  a  loyalist,  and  showed 
considerable  spirit  as  such.  For  instance,  when 
Boston  opinion  was  all  aflame  about  the  tea  ques- 
tion she  gave  a  tea-party.  Whoever  used  this 
herb  was  considered  a  foe  to  the  country,  and  a 
rigid  inquisition  and  vigilance  were  maintained  to 
prevent  its  use.  A  sprig  of  tea,"  Mrs.  Parnell 
continues,  "might  be  our  national  emblem,  for  its 
familiar  shape  involved  then  a  principle  soon  to 
be  combated  by  open  war." 

The  young  lady's  loyalist  feelings,  however,  did 
not  always  go  unhurt.  In  her  son  William's  Life 
of  Otis  the  following  passage  referring  to  her 
occurs : — 

"After  the  battle  [of  Bunker's  Hill],  a  }*oung 
person  living  in  Boston,  possessed  of  very  keen 
and  generous  feelings,  bordering  a  little  perhaps 
on  the  romantic,  as  was  natural  to  her  age,  sex, 
and  lively  imagination,  finding  that  many  of  the 
wounded  [American]  troops  brought  over  from 
the  field  of  action  were  carried  by  her  residence, 
mixed  a  quantity  of  refreshing  beverage,  and,  with 


192  C.    S.    PAENELL,    M.  P. 

a  female  domestic  by  her  side,  stood  at  the  door 
and  offered  it  to  the  sufferers  as  they  were  borne 
along,  burning  with  fever  and  parched  with  thirst- 
Several  of  these,  grateful  for  her  kindness,  gave 
her,  as  they  thought,  consolation,  by  assuring  her 
of  the  destruction  of  [the  British].  One. young 
officer  said,  'Never  mind  it,  my  brave  young 
lady;  we  have  peppered  'em  well,  depend  on  it !' 
Her  dearest  feelings  were  thus  unintentionally 
lacerated,  while  she  was  pouring  oil  and  wine  into 
their  wounds." 

Courting  this  lady  under  the  circumstances  was 
no  easy  task  for  one  whom,  while  her  sympathies 
went  out  to  him  as  a  man,  her  prejudices  taught 
her  to  regard  as  a  criminal  because  of  his  having 
become  "a  rebel  to  his  sovereign."  Court  her, 
however,  and  persistently  too,  he  did.  He  kept 
up  a  correspondence  with  her  during  the  war,  as 
full  as  opportunity  permitted,  usually  beginning 
his  long  letters  with  "My  fair  loyalist,"  and  end- 
ing them  with  "Your  devoted  rebel"— a  mode  of 
address  calculated  to  laugh  her  prejudices  away. 
Nor  was  he  satisfied  to  confine  himself  to  episto- 
lary pleadings.  In  spite  of  dangers  and  difficulties 
he  contrived  to  meet  her.  In  Drake's  "  Historic 
Fields  and  Mansions  of  Middlesex"  the  following 
passage  occurs  :  — 

"  His  courtship  of  the  lad}r  who  afterwards  be- 
came his  wife  was  prosecuted  under  very  roman- 
tic circumstances.  By  the  hostilities  which  had 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  193 

broken  out  he  was  separated  from  the  object  of 
his  affections,  who  was  residing  on  Noddles  Island 
(East  Boston),  in  the  family  of  Henry  Howell 
Williams.  The  British  fleet  which  lay  off  the 
island  rendered  it  dangerous  to  approach  it  in  a 
boat.  A  boyish  acquisition  was  now  of  use  to 
the  gallant  colpnel.  He  was  an  excellent  swim- 
mer. Tying  his  clothes  in  a  bundle  on  his  head, 
he,  like  another  Leauder,  swam  the  strait  between 
the  island  and  the  main,  paid  his  visit,  and  re- 
turned the  way  he  came.  It  is  related  of  Colonel 
Tudor  that  when  a  boy,  being  on  a  visit  aboard 
an  English  line-of-battle  ship  in  Boston  harbor, 
the  conversation  turned  on  swimming.  Tudor 
proposed  to  jump  from  the  taffrail  rail  —  which  in 
ships  of  that  time  was  at  a  considerable  height 
from  the  water — if  any  one  would  do  the  same. 
A  sailor  accepted  the  challenge.  The  boy  took 
the  leap,  but  the  man  was  afraid  to  follow." 

In  the  end  the  colonel's  wooing  prospered.  The 
most  bigoted  "fair  loyalist "  that  ever  was  could 
not  go  on  for  years  receiving  letters  signed  "  your 
devoted  rebel "  from  a  man  to  whom  she  was  really 
attached  without  suffering  a  considerable  abatement 
of  her  devotion  to  her  sovereign.  Further,  Miss 
Jarvis  had  an  innate  honor  of  war ;  and  it  was 
but  natural  that  during  the  colonel's  long  absence 
she  should  torture  herself  with  dreadful  imagin- 
ings of  what  might  happen  to  him  at  any  moment. 
So  she  put  an  end  to  her  torments  by  deserting 


194  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

from  the  royalists,  and  going  over  to  the  enemy's 
camp,  joined  her  life  and  fortunes  with  Colonel 
Tudor's. 

Honors  showered  on  Colonel  William.  He  was 
appointed  Judge- Advocate-General  of  Washing- 
ton's army,  and  held  a  military  position  equal  to 
that  of  general.  He  presided  over  the  courts- 
martial  at  Cambridge  after  Washington's  arrival 
there.  In  his  position  of  Judge-Advocate-Gen- 
eral,  his  legal  training  and  abilities  gave  him 
great  advantages  over  mere  military  men ;  and 
these  he  emploj'ed  with  success  in  defence  of 
many  an  accused  one.  In  especial,  a  Colonel 
Henley,  who  was  charged  with  unmilitary  conduct 
towards  British  prisoners  in  his  care,  had  reason 
to  be  grateful  to  the  Advocate-General.  We 
read :  "  Henley  owed  his  acquittal  mainly  to  the 
exertions  of  Colonel  Tudor  in  his  behalf.  The 
evidence  showed  that  the  prisoner  had  acted 
under  great  provocation ;  but  what  most  influ- 
enced the  result  was  the  startling  testimony  ad- 
duced of  the  mutinous  spirit  prevalent  among  the 
British  soldiers." 

When  the  war  was  over,  and  the  colonel's 
sword  sheathed,  he  returned  to  Boston,  and  to 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  wherein  he  achieved 
a  reputation  MS  "  an  eminent  counsellor."  He  be- 
came a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
of  Massachusetts,  and  afterwards  of  the  Senate. 
He  held  the  high  office  of  Secretary  of  State  in 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  195 

1809  and  1810.  He  was  appointed  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  Cincinnati  of  Massachusetts  in  1816, 
and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  in  whose  "Collections"  appears 
an  extended  memoir  of  him.  He  was  an  elegant 
and  a  spirited  public  speaker,  and  his  talents  in 
this  line,  as  in  others,  we.:e  frequently  drawn  on 
by  his  fellow-citizens  of  Boston.  He  paid  a  visit 
to  Europe  and  saw  the  state  of  Ireland  with  his 
own  eyes.  Mrs.  Parnell  says  of  him  :  —  "I  have 
many  charming  letters  of  my  grandfather,  in  one 
of  which  he  forcibly  condemns  from  Ireland  the 
British  government  there.  His  letters  are  a  won- 
derful exemplification  of  his  excellence  and  at- 
tractiveness as  a  father,  son,  and  husband.  He 
begins  one  letter  to  his  wife  with  'My  truest 
friend  ; '  and  ends  it,  '  I  must  cease  to  feel  and  to 
reflect  ere  I  cease  to  love  and  to  admire  you.' 
John  Adams  and  Judge  Tudor  kept  up  a  long 
and  interesting  correspondence — a  very  valuable 
one,  being  especially  on  political  subjects  of  the 
day.  In  John  Adams'  works,  edited  by  a  de- 
scendant of  his,  his  Jetters  to  Judge  Tudor  are 
published."  The  judge  died  on  the  8th  of  July, 
1819. 

"Miss  Peabody,  the  sister  of  Mrs.  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne,  wrote  a  beautiful  account  of  my 
grandmother,"  Mrs.  Parnell  sa3's.  "In  it  she 
mentions  my  grandmother's  resolution  to  do  or 
say  something  to  contribute  to  the  happiness  of 


196  C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P. 

each  one  she  daily  met ;  and  her  learning  Spanish 
at  the  age  of  seventy.  Through  her  letters  in 
Spanish  she  procured  from  General  Tacori  the 
monopoly  of  the  ice-trade  in  Cuba  for  her  son 
Frederic.  She  read,  wrote,  and  mended  fine 
lace,  without  spectacles,  to  ninety-two  years  of 
age.  Her  poetry  was  very  fine.  One  day,  my 
mother,  coming  in  with  the  Washington  National 
Intelligencer,  said:  'I  have  found  a  rare  thing  — 
a  fine  piece  of  poetry  in  the  newspaper,'  and  read 
out,  to  my  grandmother's  surprise,  a  piece  by  her- 
self on  a  Fourth  of  July  oration,  by  John  Quincy 
Adams,  at  the  Capitol,  where  several  old  revolu- 
tionary soldiers  were  present.  My  mother  was 
delighted  to  learn  that  her  own  mother  wrote  it. 
The  latter  was  descended  from  some  of  the  ad- 
venturous Puritans  who  sought  this  shelter,  and 
the  name  Delia  was  originally  Deliverance.  Sho 
is  mentioned  in  Comte  de  Segur's  memoirs.  Her 
home  in  Boston,  wherein  her  two  beautiful  and 
accomplished  daughters  did  the  honors,  was 
the  rendezvous  of  all  the  French  officers  stationed 
near.  She  addressed  some. fine  verses  hi  French 
to  Marie  Antoinette,  which  were  acknowledged 
by  the  latter. 

"Of  her  two  daughters,  Emma  married  Robert 
Hallowell  Gardiner,  of  Oaklands,  Gardiner, 
Maine ;  and  Delia  married  Commodore  Charles 
Stewart,  of  the  United  States  Navy.  Emma  had 
the  splendid  Tudor  eye,  aud  her  .mother's  delicate 


C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P.  197 

complexion,  auburn  hair,  and  exquisite  figure. 
Delia,  my  mother,  had  the  Norman  combination 
of  fine,  curling,  coal-black  hair,  blue  eyes,  and  a 
complexion  like  a  tinted  rose-leaf.  She  was  tall, 
and  remarkable  for  fine-cut  regular  features,  sym- 
metry, grace,  and  a  dignity  and  elegance  of  car- 
riage that  were  truly  regal." 

Besides  his  two  daughters,  Judge  Tudor  left 
two  sons,  William  and  Frederic,  both  very  re- 
markable men.  William,  the  eldest,  had  a 
strongly  intellectual  bent  of  nature.  While 
almost  an  infant  he  had  imbibed  his  mother's 
horror  of  war,  and  if  any  one  sang  in  his  pres- 
ence the  once  popular  song,  "  Oh,  what  a  glorious 
thing's  a  battle  !  drums  a-beating,  colors  flying," 
he  would  burst  out  a-sobbing.  Ordinarily,  how- 
ever, he  was  a  bright-witted  and  lively  little  boy. 
When  about  three  years  of  age  he  climbed  on  to 
the  table  after  a  dinner-party,  and  was  engaged 
in  draining  the  wine-glasses  when  the  black  but- 
ler of  the  family  discovered  him.  To  disarm  the 
negro's  wrath  the  little  fellow  seized  a  glass  and 
cried,  "Your  health,  Mr.  Pompey  ! "  so^much  in 
the  fashion  of  his  elders  that  the  butler  did  no 
more  than  grin.  From  Blake's  and  Drake's 
(American)  Biographical  Dictionaries  the  follow- 
ing memoir  of  William  Tudor  has  been  com- 
piled :  — 

"Tudor,  William,  scholar  and  diplomatist,  was 
born  at  Boston,  the  28th  of  January,  1779.  He 


198  C.    S.    PAENELL,  M.  P. 

graduated  at  Harvard  College  with  distinguished 
honor  in  1796  ;  and  soon  after  visited  Europe  for 
the  improvement  of  his  mind.  He  was  ,an  ob- 
servant traveller,  and  treasured  up  for  future  use 
a  vast  and  varied  fund  of  information  and  anec- 
dote. He  returned  to  his  native  country  with  an 
ardent  desire  for  the  improvement  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  in  arts  and  literature.  He  was  the  pro- 
jector and  first  editor  of  the  North  American 
Review"  —  the  same  distinguished  periodical  in 
the  April  1880  number  of  which  appears  his  rela- 
tive Charles  Stewart  ParnelPs  splendid  paper  on 
the  Irish  land  question — "  which  Review  has  since 
become  identified  with  the  best  literature  of  our 
country.  In  whatever  Mr.  Tudor  undertook  he 
had  a^single  eye  to  the  intellectual  advancement 
of  his  countrymen.  No  man  in  public  life  was 
ever  more  distinguished.  When  a  member  of  the 
legislature  of  Massachusetts,  he  proposed  many 
plans  in  aid  of  his  favorite  object ;  but  they  met 
with  opposition  from  those  who,  though  they  re- 
spected his  motives,  considered  him  a  visionary. 
Several  of  his  projects  have,  however,  since  been 
accomplished,  and  in  the  very  manner  that  he  first 
suggested.  For  two  years  he  wrote  all  the  first 
pages  of  the  North  American  Review  himself. 
According  to  himself,  he  wrote  the  whole  of  the 
first  number,  even  to  the  notices,  etc.,  in  it.  He 
had  previously  aided  in  founding  the  Anthology 
Club,  publishing  his  European  Letters  in  their 


C.    S.    PABNELL,    M.  P.  199 

mngazine,  the  Monthly  Anthology,  begun  in  No- 
vember, 1803,  continued  until  1811,  and  sup- 
ported by  the  best  pens  in  Boston.  In  November, 
1805,  he  founded  the  ice-traffic  in  tropical  climes 
as  the  agent  of  his  brother  Frederic,  which  has 
grown  to  be  an  important  branch  of  commerce ; 
and  he  was  afterwards  engaged  in  other  commer- 
cial transactions  in  Europe,  requiring  ability  and 
address.  Mr.  Tudor  was  the  originator  of  the 
.present  Bunker's  Hill  Monument,  and  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum  in  1807. 
In  1823  he  was  named  consul  at  Lima,  Peru ; 
and  in  1827  was  appointed  charge  d'affaires  at  the 
court  of  Brazil,  where  he  negotiated  a  treaty,  the 
last  of  his  public  works.  Mr.  Tudor  acquired 
the  personal  affection  of  the  Emperor,  and  the 
respect  and  admiration  of  the  corps  diplomatique. 
His  character  as  a  literary  man  and  an  accom- 
plished gentleman  had  preceded  him ;  and  it  was 
well  observed  that  his  country  was  honored  in 
such  a  representative.  Besides  his  contributions 
to  several  periodicals,  and  his  critiques  in  the 
North  American  Review,  he  published  'A  Dis- 
course before  the  Humane  Society,'  1817 ;  'Let- 
ters on  the  Eastern  States,'  1820;  'Miscellane- 
ous,' 1821;  'Life  of  James  Otis,'  1823;  '  Gebel 
Teir,'  1828.  He  died  at  Rio  Janeiro,  the  9th  of 
March,  1830."  He  was  only  in  his  fifty-fourth 
year  then  ;  and  he  succumbed  to  an  illness  which 
had  its  origin  a  great  many  years  before  in  an  act 


200  C.    S.    PARNELL,   M.  P. 

of  kindly  humanity,  when,  travelling  in  Germany, 
and  seeing  a  soldier's  Avife  with  her  infant  on  the 
outside  of  the  coach  at  night  in  a  storm  of  rain, 
he  gave  his  own  inside  place  to  the  poor  woman 
and  child,  and  took  her  outside  one  himself.  The 
climax  of  his  disease  was  brought  about  by  labo- 
rious journeys,  on  foot  as  well  as  on  horseback, 
into  the  wild  and  mountainous  interior  of  Brazil. 
Mrs.  Parnell  writes  of  him  :  — 

"Lord  Ponsonby,  one  of  his  colleagues  at  the 
court  of  Dom  Pedro  the  First,  said  that  such  was 
my  uncle  William  Tudor's  humane  and  judicious 
advice,  and  such  the  influence  he  exerted  over  the 
Emperor,  who  consulted  him  on  all  occasions,  that 
had  he  lived,  the  Emperor  never  would  have  lost 
his  throne.  A  succeeding  consul  told  me  that 
my  uncle  William's  beauty  and  nobility  of  form 
and  feature  made  a  never-forgotten  impression  on 
him.  He  thought  he  had  never  seen  any  one  so 
handsome.  He  resembled  my  mother.  This 
consul  also  related  to  me  the  first  act  of  my  uncle 
on  coming  aboard  the  ship  where  this  future  con- 
sul was  —  an  act  which  in  its  simplicity  and  great- 
ness seemed  fitly  to  accompany  his  appearance. 
The  mate  of  the  vessel  had  died  on  board,  leaving 
his  widow  and  orphaned  children  at  Callao,  Peru. 
My  uncle  spontaneously  and  immediately  gave 
them  a  home  in  his  house,  until  they  could  be 
comfortably  sent  to  their  own  home  and  friends. 
How  few  consuls  thus  treat  their  exiled  country- 


C.    S.    PARNELL,    M.  P.  201 

men  !  I  remember  the  terrible  grief  and  desola- 
tion of  my  mother's  heart  and  home  when  the 
news  of  his  death  reached  us  at  Washington. 
The  diplomatic  corps  there  called  to  condole  with 
my  poor  mother.  Congress  had  his  very  remark- 
able diplomatic  correspondence  published- — for 
use  and  enjoyment  both." 

Of  her  uncle,  Frederic  Tudor,  brother  of  the 
William  above  noticed,  and  whose  genius  lay 
more  in  the  commercial  line,  Mrs.  Parnell  sup- 
plies the  information  subjoined  :  — 

"Through  gigantic  endeavors,  though  often 
frustrated,  he  succeeded  in  restoring  his  family 
fortunes  and  the  prestige  of  the  Tudors  for 
wealth.  He  discovered  how  to  preserve  ice  for 
long  journeys,  and  conceived  the  idea  that  the 
chief  staple  of  New  England  —  viz.,  ice  —  should 
be  a  chief  source  of  profit;  and  he  gathered  a 
harvest  of  precious  metal  from  frozen  waters. 
The  ice  he  sent,  especially  to  the  East  Indies,  has 
preserved  many  a  life..  He  received  specially 
handsome  acknowledgments  of  his  services  from 
the  East  Indies. 

w  Some  of  the  agents  4n  the  West  Indies  not  at 
first  succeeding,  he  chartered  a  vessel,  freighted 
it  with  ice,  and  sailed  in  it  himself  to  the  West 
Indies.  I  have  seen  a  letter  written  then  by  his 
tender  and  terrified  mother,  expressing  her  fears 
lest  the  ice  should  melt  on  the  voyage  and  the 
vessel  be  capsized.  But  he  went;  and,  like  the 


202  C.    S.    PAENELL,   M.  P. 

former  in  the  fable,  immediately  prospered  by  at- 
tending to  his  business  himself. 

"He  was  remarkable  for  his  wrt  and  lor  his 
strong  character,  which  made  him,  while  very 
droll,  very  incisive  in  his  speech,  and  very  forci- 
ble in  his  views.  He  had  the  peculiar  beauty  of 
the  family  then  —  black  hair,  blue  eyes,  a  fine 
figure,  a  high  broad  forehead,  and  regular  feat-. 
ures.  At  his  fine  place  at  Nahant  he  made  prize 
peaches  grow  on  a  rock  just  over  the  sea,  and 
discovered  how  to  prevent  them  being  injured  by 
th'e  salt  in  the  atmosphere  while  they  received  the 
full  advantage  of  the  air.  His  letters  are  very 
entertaining.  So  also  are  the  letters  of  his  sister, 
my  aunt  Emma.  I  remember  particularly  her 
poetical  expressions ;  and  a  line  in  one  of  her  let- 
ters, while  I  was  a  child,  when,  describing  a  place 
she  was  in,  she  wrote,  'The  frogs  croak  a  bass  to 
the  whistling  wind.'" 


